Ill) 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


'^ 


Ocs 


L  L  KM  KNC- 1  A      L< )  1'  K/, 

Who  came  to  scrk  justice  at  the  hands  of  the    President 
for   her  imprisoned  brothers 


THE    STORY    OF    THE 
LOPEZ    FAMILY 


B  page  from  tbe  Ihistor^  of  tbe  Mar 
in  tbe  pbilippines 


EDITED  AND  WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 

By   CANNING    EYOT 


"  O  ye  loud  TVaves !  and  O  ye  Forests  high ! 
And  O  ye  Clouds  that  far  above  me  soared! 
Thou  rising  Sun  !  thou  blue  rejoicing  Sky ! 
Yea,  ererytliinij  tliat  is  and  tri//  lie  free ! 
Bear  witness  for  me,  wheresoe'er  ye  be, 
With  what  deep  worship  I  have  still  adored 
The  spirit  of  divine.st  liberty." 

—  Coleridge  :  Ode  to  Liberty. 


BOSTON 
JAMES    H.    WEST    COMPANY 

1904 


Copyright,  1903, 
By  James  H.  West  Company. 


A  copy  of  this  book  will  be  sent,  postage  paid,  to 
any  address  within  the  Postal  Union,  on 
■    receipt  of  $/.oo  by  the  Publishers. 


T 


DS 


Dedication. 

TO    THK    PEOPLE   OK    THE    PHILIPPINE    ISLANDS, 

WHO,    FOR   THE    SAKE   OK    LIBERTY, 

HAVE    SUFFERED    AT    THE    HANDS    OF    A    NATION    WHICH    HAS    ITSELF 

PAID    THE    PENALTY    AND    OBTAINED    THE    PRIZE, 

(Tliis  13ook  is  ©cliicateli 

WITH    THE    HOPE   THAT    IT    MAY    IN    A    MEASURE    CONTRIBUTE   TO    THE 
CAUSE   WHICH    THEY    HOLD    DEAR, 

AND    WITH    A    FERVENT    PRAYER    THAT, 

IN    PEACE, 

STEADFASTNESS,    AND    PATIENCE, 

THEY   MAY   LIVE  TO   SEE  THEIR   NATIVE  LAND  SUBJECT  TO   NO   POWER 
SAVE   THAT    OF    THE    CREATOR. 


[SPANISH  TRANSLATION.] 

DeDicatoria. 

Al  Pueblo  Filipino  que,  por  causa  de  su  Libertad,  ha  sufrido  en  las 
manos  de  una  Nacion  que  ha  pagado  ella  misma  la  pena  y  obtuvo  el 
Premio,  este  libro  esta  dedicado  con  la  esperanza  de  que  en  alguna 
manera  contribuya  a  la  causa  para  el  tan  querida,  y  con  el  ferviente 
voto  d5  que  en  Paz,  Firmeza  y  Paciencia,  viva  para  ver  su  tierra  natal 
libra  de  todo  Poder  excepto  a  aquel  de  su  Criador. 


-^ 


[TAGALOO  TKANSLATION.] 

Bias. 

Sa  Bayan  Filipinas  na  sa  pag  ibig  sa  Kalayaan,  nagtamong  hirap 
sa  kamay  nang  isang  Bayan  nang  unang  panahon  ay  nagdusa  rin  at 
Kinamtan  ang  Kapalaran,  ang  sulat  na  ito  ay  inialay  nang  mi  pag  asa 
na  makatulong  nang  gaano  paman  sa  bagay  na  Kanyang  minamahal, 
at  mi  nasang  taimtim  na  sa  Payapa,  sa  Tiaga  at  sa  Tiis  siya'i,  mabuhay 
na  makita  ang  kanyang  tinubuan  lupa  hindialagad  nino  man  makapang- 
yarihan  maliban  na  lamang  sa  Lumalang. 


■4  cro>«  /ih^r^ 


"It  is  unworthy  of  a  mighty  and  generous  nation,  itself  the 
greatest  and  most  successful  republic  in  history,  to  refuse  to  stretch 
out  a  helping  hand  to  a  young  and  weak  sister  republic  just  enter- 
ing upon  its  career  of  independence." 

Theodore  Roosevelt. 


*•  Under  the  best  of  circumstances,  therefore,  a  colony  ia  in  a 
false  position.  But  if  the  colony  is  in  a  region  where  the  coloniz- 
ing race  has  to  do  its  work  by  means  of  other  inferior  races,  the 
condition  is  much  worse." 

Theodore  Roosevelt. 


Note 

THE  facts  set  forth  in  the  following  pages  are  not 
published  with  the  object  of  parading  the  mis- 
fortunes of  those  to  whom  they  relate.  What  is 
told  of  the  Lopez  family  is,  unfortunately,  true  of  many 
other  families  in  the  Philippines, 

Those  of  the  Lopez  family  who  were  here  in  America 
urge  that  it  cannot  truthfully  be  represented  that  theirs 
is  an  isolated  case,  or  that  their  sacrifices  and  sufferings 
have  exceeded  those  of  many  others  of  their  fellow- 
countrymen. 

It  should  also  be  stated  that  the  Lopez  family,  as  well 
as  Dr.  Rizal  and  Senor  Basa  whose  portraits  appear  in 
this  book,  are  full-blooded  Tagalogs.  This  statement  is 
made  authoritatively,  in  refutation  of  oft-repeated  asser- 
tions to  the  contrary,  and  in  order  that  readers  may  know 
that  they  are  in  contact  with  real  Filipinos.  It  may, 
then,  be  asked.  Whence  the  Spanish  names,  —  Lopez, 
Castelo,  Rizal,  etc. }  The  explanation  is  a  simple  one, 
and  has  to  do,  not  with  genealogy,  but  with  history : 
Many  years  ago,  before  Spain  became  despotic  and 
odious,  the  better-class  Filipinos,  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  Spanish  authorities,  adopted  Spanish  surnames.  The 
possession  of  a  Spanish  name  by  a  Filipino  does  not, 
therefore,  imply  racial  mixture. 

Boston,  Mass.,  1903. 


List   of   Illustrations 


Clemencia  Lopez Frontispiece 

Who  came  to  seek  justice  at  the  hands  of  the  President 
for  her  imprisoned  brothers. 


Jos6  RiZAL  AND  SiXTO  LoPEZ Facing  p. 

From  a  photograph  taken  in  Hong-Kong,  on  Rizal's  return 
from  Europe  in  1891. 

This  photograph  has  a  special  interest  owing  to  the  attitude 
of  the  Manila  authorities  toward  the  dead  and  the  living 
patriot :  thus,  while  the  Members  of  the  Civil  Commission 
were  each  subscribing  toward  the  erection  of  a  statue  to 
Rizal,  they  were  at  the  same  time  excluding  Lopez  from  his 
own  and  Rizal's  native  land  ! 

It  is  interesting  also  because  of  an  incident  which  occurred 
when  it  was  being  taken.  In  response  to  the  customary  in- 
junction to  "look  pleasant,"  Rizal  said  to  Lopez,  "  Yes, — 
imagine  that  you  are  just  abgut  to  be  executed  by  the  Span- 
iards ! "  These  words  were  prophetic  of  Rizal's  tragic  death, 
which  occurred  five  years  later. 


32 


Juliana  Lopez Facing  p.  48 

Whose  letters  form  the  basis  of  this  book. 


View  of  part  of  Manila,  showing  the  Shipping  on  the 

River  Pasig. 
View  of  the  Luneta,  Manila,  where  Rizal  was  executed 

BY  THE  Spaniards  in  1896 Between  pp.  64-65 

The  actual  place  of  execution  is  behind  the  pavilion  dimly 

shown  in  the  distance  beyond  the  center  of  the  road. 


8  LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

Jus]£  Maria  Basa,  of  Hong-Kong Facing  p.  88 

Senor  Basa,  frequently  referred  to  in  this  book  —  some- 
times under  the  familiar  name  of  Don  Pepe  —  is  the  "  Grand 
Old  Man  "  of  the  Filipinos.  Once  a  well-to-do  merchant  in 
Manila,  a  man  of  independent  mind  and  hence  unwilling  to 
cringe  to  the  small  tyrant,  he  was  exiled  to  the  Island  of 
Guam  under  a  false  charge  of  complicity  in  the  Burgos  insur- 
rection of  1872.  After  serving  three  years  of  his  sentence  he 
was  released  from  Guam,  but  was  not  permitted  to  return  to 
the  Philippines.  For  the  past  twenty-eight  years  he  has  lived 
in  Hong-Kong,  where  his  home,  at  7,  Remedios  Terrace,  is 
the  Mecca  of  all  Filipinos  who  visit  that  picturesque  British 
colony. 

Senor  Basa  was  the  life-long  friend  of  Rizal,  and  is  now  the 
custodian  of  Rizal's  library  and  letters,  which  are  destined  as 
the  nucleus  of  a  public  library  to  be  founded  when  Rizal's 
ideals  have  been  achieved. 

View  of  the  Magellan  Statue,  Manila Facing  p.  121 

Maria  Lopez Facing  p.  144 

The  youngest  of  the  Lopez  sisters. 

Rehearsal  by  some  of  the  Members  of  the  Women's 
Red  Cross  Society  of  Lipa,  Batangas,  for  a  Con- 
cert TO  BE  given  in  AID  OF  ITS  FUNDS  ....  Facing  p.  169 

JOS6    RlZAL,    shortly    BEFORE    HIS    EXECUTION    IN    1 896. 

SiXTO  Lopez,  at  the  present  time Facing  p.  193 


The  Story  of  the 
Lopez  Family 

H  page  from  tbc  Ihistor^  ot  tbe  "Mat  in 
tbe  pbUippines 

^«> 

TRUTH  is  not  only  stranger,  but  in  most  instances 
more  interesting  and  instructive,  than  fiction.  No 
epic  or  romance,  no  literary  art  or  descriptive  skill, 
could  furnish  a  truer  conception  of  the  war  in  the  Philip- 
pines and  its  achievements,  or  give  a  better  insight  into 
Filipino  life  and  character,  than  the  simple  truth  of  the 
story  of  the  Lopez  family  as  set  forth  in  the  accompany- 
ing series  of  letters  —  a  story  of  the  infliction  of  wrong 
and  injustice  on  account  of  adherence  to  principle  and 
fidelity  to  family  ties. 

In  order,  however,  that  this  page  of  history  may  not 
be  wholly  detached  from  natural  continuity  it  will  first 
be  necessary  to  give  a  brief  account  of  the  Lopez  family 
and  of  their  attitude  toward  the  Spanish  government. 

"IFn  former  ^imes." 

"Old  Batangas,"  as  the  province  is  now  appropriately 
termed,  —  the  last  to  yield  in  the  unequal  struggle,  and 


lo         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

the  scene  of  some  of  the  most  regrettable  incidents  in 
the  war,  —  has  been  the  home  of  the  Lopez  family  for 
several  generations.  Immediate  interest,  however,  does 
not  extend  beyond  Natalio  Lopez,  who  died  in  1886,  the 
father  of  the  present  family  which  comprises  Maria 
Castelo,*  his  widow ;  six  sons,  Mariano,  Lorenzo,  Sixto, 
Cipriano,  Manuel,  and  Jose  ;  and  four  daughters,  Andrea, 
Clemencia,  Juliana,  and  Maria.  Natalio  was  in  many 
respects  a  remarkable  man.  His  education,  received  at 
the  college  of  San  Jose,  was  due  solely  to  his  own  activ- 
ity and  industry.  But  business  cares  at  an  early  age 
made  it  impossible  for  him  to  continue  his  studies  at  the 
university.  Yet  in  later  years,  though  without  the  dis- 
tinction of  a  university  degree,  which  means  so  much  in 
the  eyes  of  the  Filipinos,  he  became  the  acknowledged 
friend  and  counselor — "the  unprofessional  and  unpaid 
adviser" — of  his  fellow -townsmen,  who  styled  him 
"Defender  of  the  just."  In  this,  one  is  reminded  of 
Scott's  beautiful  lines  : 

**The  thatched  mansion's  gray-haired  sire. 
Wise  without  learning,  plain  and  good. 

Whose  doom  discording  neighbours  sought. 
Content  with  equity  unbought." 

Though  devoted  to  his  religion  and  to  an  unwavering 
belief  in  the  protecting  care  of  the  Virgin  Mother, 
Natalio  Lopez  always  took  the  part  of  the  people  against 
the   unjust  methods  of  the  Spaniards  and  the  Friars, 


*  The  wife  or -widow,  according  to  Spanish  custom,  retains  her  maiden 
surname.  Senora  Castelo's  full  name  is  Maria  Castelo  de  Lopez,  but 
this  would  be  used  only  in  certain  special  circumstances. 


STORY    OF    THK    LOPKZ    FAMILY         ii 

never  failing  to  condemn  their  irregularities.  As  a 
natural  consequence  he  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the 
Religious  Orders,  and,  although  himself  a  peace-loving 
man,  those  who  feared  honesty  and  uprightness  were 
never  at  peace  with  him.  On  more  than  one  occasion 
he  was  secretly  denounced  and  arrested  on  false  charges  ; 
but  his  reputation  among  men,  and  his  palpable  honesty 
of  character,  were  a  shield  and  buckler  against  the  attacks 
of  his  enemies.  On  one  occasion,  when  confronting  his 
accusers  before  Jose  Maria  Alix,  the  then  Governor  of 
the  province,  the  Governor  was  so  impressed  with 
Natalio's  straightforward  bearing  that  he  declared : 
"  This  man  is  innocent ;  he  cannot  be  guilty  of  the 
charge  preferred  against  him."  Years  later,  when  Alix 
had  returned  to  Spain,  the  charge  was  again  trumped  up 
against  Natalio.  His  only  means  of  obtaining  justice 
was  to  appeal  to  his  former  protector,  and  in  those  days, 
before  the  completion  of  the  Suez  canal,  it  was  a  slow 
process  to  transmit  and  receive  communications  from 
Spain.  Nevertheless,  though  it  meant  a  delay  of  several 
months,  the  appeal  was  made ;  and  not  in  vain,  for  Alix, 
who  must  have  been  one  of  the  best  of  men,  readily  bore 
witness  to  Natalio's  integrity,  with  the  result  that  he  was 
finally  acquitted  and  set  free. 

But  though  thus  protected,  Natalio  realized  that  there 
were  others  of  his  fellows  who  were  less  fortunate.  He 
saw  that  justice  under  Spanish  rule  was  the  rare  excep- 
tion, and,  though  he  never  openly  advocated  separation 
from  Spain,  he  impressed  upon  his  children  the  obvious 
truth  "that  they  could  not  live  an  honest  life  and  escape 
tribulation  as  long  as  the  source  of  authority  was  in  a 
foreign  land." 


12         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

This  was  the  school,  so  to  speak,  at  which  the  present 
members  of  the  family  graduated.  In  such  surroundings 
and  with  such  teaching  —  the  justness  of  which  few  will 
dispute  —  it  was  natural  that  they  should  be  impressed 
with  the  writings  of  Jose  Rizal,  whose  final  dictum  was 
that  there  was  no  salvation  for  their  country  short  of 
separation  from  Spain.  The  whole  family,  even  to  the 
youngest  daughter,  finally  shared  in  this  aspiration  for 
freedom  from  foreign  rule,  but  perhaps  a  larger  share  of 
the  mantle  of  Natalio  fell  upon  Sixto,  his  eldest  son  by 
the  second  marriage.  Unassuming  and  quiet,  yet  gifted 
with  an  unusual  tenacity  of  purpose,  it  was  Sixto  Lopez 
who,  at  an  early  age,  became  associated  with  Rizal ;  who, 
later,  introduced  and  circulated  Rizal's  books  in  the 
Philippines ;  who,  privately,  gave  pecuniary  aid  to  Rizal 
and  personal  aid  to  his  plans  ;  who  was  set  down  for 
arrest  when  Rizal  was  arrested,  on  the  ground  that  he 
was  "  Rizal's  most  active  agent "  ;  who  escaped  Rizal's 
fate  only  by  accepting  voluntary  exile  from  his  native 
land ;  who  endeavored,  along  with  Dr.  Regidor  of 
London,  to  rescue  Rizal  from  the  hands  of  his  execu- 
tioners during  Rizal's  memorable  voyage  from  Barcelona 
to  Manila ;  and  who,  humbly  taking  up  the  banner  as  it 
fell  from  Rizal's  dying  hand,  has  worked  unassumingly 
for  the  independence  of  his  country,  notwithstanding 
recent  political  changes  and  in  spite  of  personal  and 
family  loss  and  misfortune. 

But  if  Sixto  was  thus  persistent  and  devoted,  the  other 
members  of  the  family  were  equally  resolute  and  were 
ready  to  make  any  sacrifice  for  the  liberation  of  their 
country.  They  were  wealthy,  and,  had  they  chosen  to 
be  time-servers,  and  to  throw  in  their  lot  with  Spain, 


STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         13 

they  could  have  retained  their  wealth  and  secured  unlim- 
ited favor.  But  such  was  not  their  character  or  inclina- 
tion. They  aspired  to  national  freedom  and  were  prepared 
to  support  their  aspiration  with  their  wealth.  So,  when 
Aguinaldo  and  his  compatriots  rose  in  revolt,  and  when 
Rizal  —  to  use  his  own  words  — "  scaled  his  life's  work 
with  his  blood,"  the  Lopez  family  risked  everything  they 
possessed,  including  personal  liberty,  in  support  of  a 
cause  which  others  might  regard  as  hopeless  but  which 
they  believed  would  ultimately  succeed. 

Their  fidelity  cost  them  dear.  When  the  seriousness 
of  the  revolt  became  known  to  the  authorities,  and  when 
additional  troops  had  been  brought  from  Spain,  the 
Spanish  forces  swept  their  estates  as  with  a  withering 
breath.  The  laborers  on  their  plantations,  who  had 
grown  up  with  them  from  childhood  to  manhood,  were 
mown  down  and  slaughtered  and  their  families  dispersed. 
Of  their  five  thousand  working-animals,  used  by  these 
laborers  in  the  fields  and  in  the  sugar-mills,  only  seventy 
were  finally  recovered.  Their  house  was  plundered ; 
their  sugar,  coffee,  and  rice  fields  were  laid  waste ;  and 
the  ^700,000  which  they  had  advanced  in  purchasing 
on-coming  crops  from  smaller  planters  were  reduced  to 
the  value  of  an  entry  in  a  cash-book.  In  all,  their  losses 
during  the  insurrection  amounted  to  upwards  of  a  million 
and  a  half  Mexican  dollars,  and  the  male  members  of 
the  family  were  imprisoned  with  apparently  small  hope 
of  escaping  with  their  life. 

Yet  they  were  undaunted.  Calamity  might  wreck 
their  possessions,  but  not  their  principles.  During  the 
lull  in  the  insurrection  after  the  Treaty  of  Biac-na-Bato 
they  gathered  together  the  remnant  of  their  possessions. 


14         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

It  might  have  been  justly  conceded  that  the  family  had 
already  made  more  than  their  share  of  sacrifice  for  their 
country's  freedom ;  but  their  resources,  in  fidelity  at 
least,  had  not  been  exhausted.  When  Aguinaldo  returned 
with  Admiral  Dewey  they  again  offered  their  personal  aid 
and  gave  of  their  remaining  property  to  assist  in  the 
cause  which  at  last  seemed  to  be  assured  of  final  success. 
And  when  the  new  Republic  was  born,  though  their 
wealth  had  been  sacrificed,  though  two  of  their  ships 
were  gratuitously  in  the  service  of  the  government,  as 
were  also  two  of  the  brothers  —  the  one,  taken  from 
sorely  needed  attention  to  their  business  affairs,  to  serve 
in  Aguinaldo's  army,  the  other,  as  a  member  of  the 
Malolos  Congress  —  the  family  felt  that  they  had  ample 
recompense  in  the  achievement  of  their  country's  free- 
dom from  foreign  rule. 

'*TKIlas  tt  Bll  for  flougbt?" 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  the  then  American  Admin- 
istration conceived  the  idea  of  purchasing  the  Philippine 
Islands  from  Spain,  and  of  demanding  of  the  Lopez  family 
and  all  other  Fihpinos  unconditional  allegiance  to  a  new 
foreign  sovereignty. 

Now,  unquestionably,  American  statesmen  had  a 
right  to  adopt  any  new  policy,  consistent  with  justice; 
they  may  even  have  had  a  right  —  if  the  people  so 
willed  —  to  discard  those  principles  of  democracy  which 
have  made  America  a  great  and  free  and  prosperous 
nation.  But  had  they  the  right  —  admittedly  they  had 
the  power  —  to  demand  that  the  Lopez  family,  who  had 
made  such  sacrifices  for  freedom,  or  that  the  Filipinos, 


STORY    OK    THi:    LOPEZ    FAMILY         15 

who  had  suffered  and  fought  for  liberty,  should,  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  change  their  political  beliefs  because 
of  a  new  policy  conceived  at  Washington  ?  One  of  the 
tests  of  the  righteousness  of  a  policy  is  its  reasonable- 
ness, for  a  righteous  policy  will  always  be  reasonable  even 
if  a  reasonable  policy  may  not  always  be  righteous.  Ap- 
plying this  test  to  the  Philippine  policy,  was  it  reason- 
able to  demand  that  these  people,  who  were  fighting  for 
national  liberty,  or  that  this  family,  whose  life's  teaching 
had  led  them  to  reject  foreign  rule  and  whose  sacrifices 
in  behalf  of  their  ideals  had  meant  to  them  the  differ- 
ence between  prosperity  and  adversity  —  was  it  reason- 
able to  demand  unconditional  submission  to  a  new  foreign 
authority  which  did  not  and  has  not  even  yet  declared 
its  policy  as  to  the  immediate  or  ultimate  status  of  their 
country  and  people  ?  Was  it  reasonable  to  expect  these 
people  to  submit,  without  protest  or  murmur,  to  what 
may  or  may  not  be  given  them  in  a  "  distant  and  indefi- 
nite future,"  without  treaty  or  pledge  or  intimation  of 
ultimate  intention  on  the  part  of  America  ?  There  are 
many  Americans,  kind  of  heart  and  pure  of  motive,  who, 
apparently  without  due  thought,  have  accepted  the  theory 
that  the  Filipinos  were  rebels  and  traitors,  and  that  they 
had  therefore  forfeited  every  right  and  all  reasonable  con- 
sideration. But  to  be  a  rebel  presupposes  former  alle- 
giance ;  to  be  a  traitor  predicates  infidelity  to  a  principle 
or  party  or  power  to  which  allegiance  has  formerly  been 
given  or  owned.  In  neither  of  these  ways  had  the  Fili- 
pinos offended  against  America,  and  the  theory  that  they 
had  so  offended  is  based  upon  ignorance  of  the  real  situ- 
ation prior  to  the  unsought,  though  welcomed,  interven- 
tion of  the  United  States. 


i6         STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 


**Uo  thine  own  Self  be  true.'' 

But  when  the  American  Administration,  rightly  or 
wrongly,  proclaimed  its  intention  of  taking  possession  of 
the  Philippines,  by  force  "if  need  be,"  and  when  the 
consequent  outbreak  of  hostilities  occurred,  what  attitude 
did  the  Lopez  family  assume,  and  what  action  did  they 
take  ? 

Obviously,  no  policy  conceived  in  America,  however 
artful,  could  change  their  opinions;  no  Paris  Treaty, 
however  adroit,  could  alter  their  desires ;  and  no  force, 
however  great,  could  make  them  cease  to  love  liberty. 
Hence,  they  remained,  and  still  remain,  firm  in  their 
beliefs  and  true  to  their  principles ;  they  still  maintain 
the  right  of  their  country  to  independence. 

But  in  view  of  what  they  regarded  as  the  futility  of 
an  armed  conflict  with  America,  the  family  —  with  one 
exception  to  be  hereafter  explained  —  withdrew  from  act- 
ive participation  in  the  war. 

Thus,  the  mother,  the  four  daughters,  and  two  of  the 
sons,  Lorenzo  and  Manuel,  who  were  engaged  in  working 
the  plantations  at  Balayan  and  the  shipping-business  in 
Manila,  took  up  a  neutral  position. 

The  youngest  son,  Jose,  a  student  at  the  Manila  uni- 
versity, after  taking  his  degree,  finally  went  to  England 
to  study  naval  architecture,  where  he  is  so  engaged  at 
the  present  time. 

The  eldest  son,  Mariano,  withdrew  from  the  Malolos 
Congress,  to  which  he  was  an  elected  member,  and  coun- 
seled peace.  His  position  is  best  described  in  his  own 
words  in  a  recent  letter  to  his  brother  Sixto  :  "  In  answer- 
ing your  letter  I  will  only  say  that,  considering  the  at- 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY  17 

mosphere  in  which  you  live,  alone,  and  almost  called 
upon  to  be  a  martyr  for  your  country,  it  seems  to  me 
excellent  and  not  to  be  improved.  But  as  for  me  and 
millions  of  our  compatriots  in  the  surroundings  in  which 
we  live,  considering  the  circumstances  and  our  respective 
families,  for  whom  we  must  have  very  special  regard,  we 
cannot  follow  you  on  the  patriotic  road  which  you  have 
laid  out.  But  zvc  do  not  on  tJiat  account  consider  our- 
selves any  less  patriotic  than  y  on  are  ;  for  if  history  holds 
up  to  you  examples  of  heroism,  even  to  the  point  of 
sacrificing  one's  life  for  one's  country,  it  gives  us,  on  the 
other  hand,  examples  of  even  great  nations  who  have 
yielded  to  the  superior  force  of  the  enemy,  preferring  to 
submit  to  the  conqueror  rather  than  to  continue  the 
struggle  at  the  price  of  total  extemiination." 

Sixto,  who  at  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  hostilities 
with  the  Filipinos  was  serving  as  secretary  to  the  Com- 
mission which  went  to  Washington  seeking  recognition 
for  the  newly  formed  Philippine  Republic,  wrote  numer- 
ous despatches  to  Aguinaldo  and  to  the  Central  Com- 
mittee at  Hong-Kong  urging  a  cessation  of  hostilities, 
pointing  out  that  armed  resistance  could  not  secure  inde- 
pendence, but  would  only  confuse  the  issues  and  do  injury 
to  a  good  cause.  He  also  repeatedly  urged  the  sending 
of  one  or  more  Filipinos  to  America  with  the  object 
of  informing  the  American  people  of  the  real  situation 
which,  he  claimed,  was  being  woefully  misrepresented  by 
General  Otis  and  others.  In  this  manner  he  hoped  to 
bring  about  negotiations  and  an  adjustment  of  the  diffi- 
culty by  peaceable  means.  While  he  was  thus  urging 
his  own  people  to  cease  warlike  and  adopt  peaceable 
means,  he  secured  publication  of  several  articles  in  the 


i8         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

American  press,  having  the  same  object.  In  one  of 
these  articles,  pubhshed  in  the  Indepoidcnt  of  Decem- 
ber 14,  1899,  —  four  years  ago,  —  he  concludes  as 
follows  : 

"  Why  not  negotiate  ?  If  negotiations  fail,  it  will  then 
be  time  enough  for  war.*  True,  in  the  past  our  over- 
tures of  peace  and  good  will  were  not  received  in  a  hearty 
manner  by  the  Administration.  But  let  that  pass.  It 
cannot  be  undignified  to  do  what  honor  and  righteous- 
ness demand.  Who  will  help  me  in  the  cause  of  peace } 
Could  any  cause  be  worthier  the  genius  of  the  statesmen 
of  a  great  nation  .^ 

"  In  placing  this  statement  before  the  people  of  Amer- 
ica, I  beg  to  assure  them  that  whatever  its  demerits  may 
be  it  is  the  outcome  of  a  sincere  desire  for  peace  and 
for  an  honorable  settlement  of  the  differences  and  diffi- 
culties of  the  Philippine  question." 

Finally,  when  none  of  his  fellow-countrymen  could  be 
induced,  or  were  able,  to  visit  America,  Sixto  Lopez  him- 
self, on  the  invitation  of  Mr.  Fiske  Warren,  of  Boston, 
came  to  this  country,  and  his  demeanor  and  utterances 
while  here  have  been  characterized  by  moderation,  re- 
spect, and  good  feeling, 

Cipriano  —  the  exception  referred  to  above  —  was  an 
officer  in  Aguinaldo's  army,  prior  to  and  during  part  of 
the  conflict  with  America.  He  was  therefore  subject  to 
exceptional  rules  of  conduct ;  for  though  the  civilian 
may  choose  to  adopt  a  neutral  position  under  given  cir- 
cumstances, the  soldier  has  no  such  choice.     To  resign 


*  This  was  addressed   to   the  American  people,  as  ihe  article  itself 
shows. 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY  19 

one's  commission,  for  whatever  reason,  in  the  midst  of 
active  warfare,  is  universally  regarded  as  cowardly  and 
dishonorable.  Had  Cipriano  thus  forsaken  his  chief,  even 
through  disapproval  of  the  war,  he  would  have  been  sub- 
ject to  very  general  condemnation.  For  these  reasons, 
though  realizing  the  futility  of  the  conflict,  Cipriano  kci)t 
his  sword  until  the  nth  of  March,  1901.  Even  then, 
it  was  only  because  of  repeated  illness  in  the  field,  and 
in  response  to  the  entreaties  of  his  mother  and  the  urgent 
representations  of  his  eldest  brother,  that  he  surrendered 
to  Major  Bullard,  witJi  all  his  vicn  a)id  arms.  His  con- 
duct in  all  this  will  be  understood  and  appreciated  even 
by  opponents. 

It  need  not  be  regarded  as  a  violation  of  the  canons 
of  good  taste,  since  this  is  simply  a  narration  of  facts,  to 
tell  also  of  the  hospitality  shown  by  the  Lopez  family  to 
the  American  officers  stationed  at  Balayan ;  or  how,  by 
keeping  open  house  and  providing  social  diversion,  they 
induced  some  of  the  younger  officers  not  to  indulge  in 
habits  of  intemperance  which  were  all  too  common  among 
soldiers  unaccustomed  to  a  tropical  climate  and  shut  off, 
by  the  strained  relations  during  the  conflict,  from  refin- 
ing and  elevating  associations.  One  of  these  officers 
tells,  in  an  American  newspaper,  how  existence  was  made 
"delightful"  to  himself  and  other  officers  by  the  kind- 
ness and  hospitality  of  the  Lopez  family,  for  "the  'latch- 
string  '  was  always  left  out  for  us  at  the  Lopez  residence, 
the  finest  in  Balayan."  But,  while  the  family  thus  enter- 
tained the  American  officers,  they  never  made  any  secret 
of  their  desire  for  Philippine  independence,  nor  did  they 
conceal  or  try  to  conceal  the  fact  that  they  had  a  brother 
in  the  "insurgent  "  army. 


20         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

Furthermore,  foreseeing  that  the  prolonged  resistance 
of  his  countrymen  to  the  forces  of  the  United  States, 
though  futile  in  the  securing  of  independence,  would 
provoke  the  American  forces  to  gi^eater  severity  and 
cruelty,  Mariano  Lopez  placed  his  services  and  influence 
at  the  disposal  of  the  American  authorities  with  the 
object  of  bringing  about  peace.  In  this  he  was  largely 
successful,  securing  the  surrender  of  several  important 
Filipino  commands,  including  Generals  Cailles,  Gregorio 
Katigbak,  and  (indirectly)  General  Trias.  Official  testi- 
mony to  the  nature  and  value  of  these  services  is  given 
by  Major  R.  L.  Bullard,  as  follows : 

"Manila,  July  5,  1901. 

"  I  take  pleasure  in  certifying  that  the  bearer  of  this 
paper,  Senor  Mariano  Lopez,  of  this  city  and  of  Balayan, 
Batangas  province,  has  rendered  service  to  the  United 
States  in  the  pacification  of  Luzon  as  follows : 

"In  March  of  1901  he  accompanied  me  at  his  own 
expense  into  the  country  west  of  Lake  Taal,  and  there 
through  the  influence  of  himself  and  family  he  opened 
negotiations  with  all  the  insurgents  of  Batangas  west  of 
Lake  Taal,  which  negotiations  resulted  in  their  surrender 
and  the  pacification  of  all  Batangas  west  of  Lake  Taal, 
and  cut  off  from  the  insurgent  General  Trias  in  Cavite 
province  all  his  military  support  from  the  south. 

"At  my  request  he  afterwards  visited  Lipa  in  the 
province  of  Batangas,  with  a  view  to  opening  negotia- 
tions with  the  insurgent  General  Malvar.  From  these 
latter  negotiations  there  resulted,  as  I  believe,  the  surren- 
der of  insurgent  General  Gregorio  Katigbak  and  Colonel 
Cipriano  Calao,  Senor  Lopez's  personal  friends,  and  some 
125  officers  and  enlisted  insurgents.  He  also  offered  his 
services  and  did  all  in  his  power  to  induce  the  surrender 
of  the  insurgent  General  Cailles,  who  did  surrender. 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         21 

"  I  have  found  him  a  man  of  judgment  and  honor  in 
all  his  dealings  with  the  United  States. 
(Signed)  *'  R.   L,  Bullard, 

"  Major,  Commissary, 
"  United  States  Anny,  Chief  Commissary." 

It  will  be  noted  in  the  above  testimonial  that  Mariano, 
in  rendering  these  services,  did  so  "  at  his  own  expense." 
Though  desirous  of  peace  for  the  sake  of  saving  the 
lives  and  property  of  his  countrymen,  he  wished  to  re- 
main neutral  and  to  avoid  being,  even  in  appearance,  in 
the  paid  service  of  America.  For  the  same  reason  he 
refused  to  accept  a  proffered  office  under  American  rule. 

But  though  Mariano  was  thus  largely  successful  in  his 
efforts  to  secure  peace,  he  failed  to  have  any  influence 
with  General  Malvar  who,  with  General  Lukban,  still 
kept  the  field.  Accordingly,  Sixto  Lopez,  who  was  de- 
sirous of  returning  to  the  Philippines,  left  America  with 
the  hope  of  being  able  to  induce  Malvar,  with  whom  he 
was  personally  acquainted,  to  cease  fighting.  He  believed 
that,  owing  to  his  knowledge  of  the  real  situation  in 
America,  and  because  of  his  long  service  in  the  cause  of 
Philippine  independence,  he  would  have  some  influence 
with  Malvar,  and  that  Malvar  would  listen  to  him  as  he 
had  listened  to  no  one  else.  But  on  Sixto's  arrival  at 
Hong-Kong,  the  Manila  (American)  press  published  sev- 
eral inflammatory  and  foolish  statements,  one  of  which 
was  to  the  effect  that  "  Sixto  Lopez  was  coming  to  order 
America  out  of  the  Philippines,  failing  compliance  with 
which,  he  would  wipe  Uncle  Sam  out  of  existence."  And 
so,  before  his  services  were  even  formally  tendered,  they 
were  rejected  —  unless  he  were  prepared  to  submit  to 
certain  conditions  which  would  have  at  once  disqualified 


22         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

him  as  a  successful  emissary  to  Malvar.  He  holds,  how- 
ever, that  if  General  Chatfee  had  been  willing,  as  was 
Vice-Governor  Wright,  to  make  use  of  his  services,  much 
if  not  all  of  the  bloodshed  and  reconcentration  and  burn- 
ing and  torture  that  characterized  the  later  period  of  the 
war  would  have  been  avoided.  In  this  he  is  supported 
by  General  Bell  who,  in  a  letter  to  General  Wheaton, 
dated  December  27,  1901,  says:  "If  Sixto  Lopez,  or 
any  other  man  of  equal  influence,  could  be  trusted  to 
work  honestly  and  sincerely  there  is  no  doubt  but  what 
he  could  bring  about  peace."* 


'*/iBan'5  Inhumanity  to  /llban/' 

Now,  the  above  is  a  brief  statement  of  the  position  of 
the  Lopez  family  in  relation  to  the  war  and  to  American 
sovereignty  in  the  Philippines.  Beyond  the  great  and 
general  suffering  which  war  entails,  their  interests 
and  their  person  —  with  one  exception  —  had  not  been 
unduly  interfered  with  up  to  the  time  when  General 
Chaffee,  according  to  reliable  report,  declared  his  intention 
of  putting  an  end  to  the  war  within  three  months  "  even 
if  he  had  to  kill  everything  living  and  burn  everything 
standing  in  Batangas  and  Samar."  The  time,  so  it  was 
thought,  had  then  arrived  for  extreme  measures.  The 
resistance  to  American  sovereignty  had  continued  for 
nearly  three  years,  notwithstanding  frequent  reports  and 
predictions  to  the  contrary.  General  Otis  had  failed  to 
pacify  the  Islands,  although  he  was  supposed,  according 
to  his  own  and  Secretary  Root's  opinion,  to  be  contend- 


*  Report  of  Senate  Committee  on  the  Philippines,  p.  2604. 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         23 

ing  with  only  a  part  of  one  out  of  eighty  four  "tribes." 
General  MacArthur's  chief  success  was  his  discovery 
that  the  war  was  being  directed  against  the  inhabitants 
uf  the  "entire  archipelago,"  whose  "unique  system  of 
warfare  depended  upon  almost  complete  unity  of  action 
of  the  entire  native  population^  (These  arc  his  own 
words,  in  an  official  report.)  It  was  therefore  necessary 
to  adopt  more  rigorous  methods  of  warfare.  Accord- 
ingly, the  so-called  "  Kitchener  methods  "  were  put  in 
operation  by  General  MacArthur,  but  without  success. 
Even  the  defeat  of  the  Democratic  presidential  candi- 
date, which,  according  to  Governor  Taft's  prediction, 
would  put  an  end  to  the  war  within  sixty  days,  produced 
only  the  effect  of  adding  another  to  the  list  of  unfulfilled 
prophecies.  The  capture  of  Aguinaldo,  from  which  so 
much  had  been  expected,  produced  no  more  effect  upon 
the  Filipinos  than  the  fall  of  Pretoria  produced  upon 
the  Boers.  The  institution  of  Civil  Government,  which 
Governor  Taft  believed  would  give  universal  satisfaction, 
was  a  disappointment  as  far  as  peace  was  concerned. 
The  Filipinos  still  expressed  a  preference  for  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  and  there,  on  the  noble  brow  of 
Mt.  Maquiling,  within  sight  of  Governor  Taft's  palace, 
were  the  harried  forces  of  General  Malvar. 

And  so.  General  Chaffee,  fresh  from  his  brilliant  suc- 
cesses before  the  walls  of  Peking,  was  given  command 
in  the  hope  that  he  would  be  equally  successful  in  Luzon. 

But  General  Chaffee  after  a  time  discovered  that  even 
"Kitchener  methods"  were  inadequate  to  cope  with  a 
people  imbued  with  a  passion  for  independence.  "A 
nation  of  men  bent  on  freedom,"  says  Emerson,  "  can 
easily  confound  the  arithmetic  of  statists,  and  achieve 


24        STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

extravagant  actions  out  of  all  proportion  to  their  means." 
Even  kind-hearted  Governor  Taft,  though  committed  to 
a  policy  of  peace,  seemed  to  be  at  his  wits'  end.  His 
evil  genius,  Buencamino, —  like  "  Judas,  who  also  betrayed 
him," — then  whispered  words  in  his  ear,*  and  Governor 
Taft  thereupon  urged  the  military  to  greater  severity 
in  the  war,  under  the  euphemism  of  "  pinching  "  f  the 
wealthier  non-combatants  who  did  not  praise  or  approve 
his  Civil  Government.  The  military  formed  their  own 
interpretation  of  what  "  pinching  "  was  to  mean,  and  the 
Manila  press  became  quite  jubilant,  and  even  jocular, 
over  the  prospect  of  final  triumph  by  extermination! 
Thus,  one  newspaper  opined  that  "  there  was  likely  soon 
to  be  a  large  decrease  171  the  population  of  Samar!" 
Another  understood  that  "  Samar  was  to  be  made  so 
that  even  the  birds  could  not  live  there,"  and  declared 
that  "what  fire  and  water  h2id  done  in  Panay,  ivater  dind. 
fire  would  do  in  Samar."  This  was  the  first  public 
admission  that  the  "  water  torture  "  had  been  practised 
in  the  Philippines ;  hitherto  the  charge  had  been  indig- 
nantly denied. 


*  Buencamino  is  said  to  have  recommended  the  arrest  of  all  the 
wealthy  non-combatants ;  and  in  a  letter  to  Governor  Taft  he  even 
approves  of  the  extermination  of  the  entire  population  of  Batangas 
province.  (See  Buencamino's  letter  to  Governor  Taft,  dated  January 
8,  1902,  and  published  in  Renacimiento,  June  28,  1902.) 

f'What  I  said  was  that,  in  my  judgment,  measures  which  would 
bring  home  to  the  rich  persons,  who  were  responsible  for  the  continu- 
ance of  the  war,  a  pinching— I  think  I  used  the  word 'pinching'— a 
pinching  knowledge  of  what  the  war  meant,  would  end  it." —  Governor 
TafV s  evidence  before  Senate  Committee:  Report, p.  104. 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         25 


"HnD  there  was  TXleeping  In  all  JuOea." 

It  was  in  this  spirit,  and  apparently  with  permission, 
if  not  instructions,  in  keeping  with  General  Chaffee's 
policy  and  Governor  Taft's  recommendation,  that  General 
Bell  was  given  the  task  of  pacifying  "  Old  Batangas " 
and  the  adjoining  provinces.  To  take  and  hold  large 
tracts  of  mountainous  country,  in  many  parts  inaccessible 
to  American  troops,  against  a  mobile  and  an  illusive  foe, 
required  a  much  larger  force  than  General  Bell  had  at 
his  command.  The  task  in  the  Philippines  was  as  diffi- 
cult as  was  the  similar  task  under  similar  conditions  in 
South  Africa.  Even  wholesale  burning,  and  reconcen- 
tration  with  all  its  horrors,  were  found  to  be  inadequate 
in  both  countries.  Friendly  conference  and  concession 
were  finally  adopted  with  satisfactory  results  in  South 
Africa,  but  apparently  no  such  humane  policy  could  be 
thought  of  in  the  Philippines.  Consequently,  Generals 
Smith  and  Bell  were  compelled  to  resort  to  methods  of 
warfare  not  provided  for  in  the  Geneva  Convention. 
Blame,  however,  must  attach  not  so  much  to  these  men 
as  to  the  policy  that  drove  them  to  these  extremes. 

"  A  self-deluded  man  is  he  who  deems  the  head  is  inno- 
cent that  moves  the  hand." 

To  drive  Malvar's  forces  from  mountain  fastness  to 
swamp  and  jungle,  and  thence  to  final  defeat,  would  have 
required  a  force  as  large  as  the  army  with  which  Napoleon 
entered  Russia.  It  was  absurd  to  expect  that  the  Amer- 
ican people  would  provide  General  Bell  with  such  a  force 
in    order    simply    to    defeat    a    few    of    General    Otis's 


26         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

"  ladrones."  Governor  Taft's  recommendation  of  "  pinch- 
ing" the  wealthier  non-combatants  had  therefore  to  be 
resorted  to.  Those  in  arms  were  not  within  reach,  and 
consequently  the  natural  if  doubtful  procedure  was  to 
make  the  sufferings  of  those  within  reach  so  intense  as 
to  appeal  to  the  humane  sympathies  of  Malvar  and  those 
in  the  field. 

It  has  been  pointed  out  that  one  of  the  tests  of  the 
righteousness  of  a  policy  is  its  reasonableness.  Another 
test  is  the  cleanness  and  fairness  of  the  methods  neces- 
sary to  its  accomplishment.  If  in  the  nature  of  things 
there  is  one  certitude  it  is  that  a  righteous  end  does  not 
demand  unrighteous  means.  The  theories  that  it  is 
right  to  "do  evil  that  good  may  come,"  and  that  "the 
end  justifies  the  means,"  are  now  utterly  discredited  by 
common  honesty,  to  say  nothing  about  religion  and 
higher  morality.  The  apologists  of  the  methods  adopted 
in  the  Philippines  have  therefore  been  unfortunate,  to 
say  the  least,  in  their  plea  that  the  methods  were  "  neces- 
sary," for  if  the  methods  were  necessary  the  policy  stands 
condemned.  General  Weyler  also  found  similar  methods 
necessary  in  Cuba,  but  the  plea  of  necessity  did  not  save 
him  from  the  righteous  condemnation  of  the  American 
people  and  of  the  civilized  world.  The  man  —  whether 
it  be  Weyler  or  Waller  —  who  pleads  the  necessity  of 
wholesale  killing  in  order  to  inflict  what  he  or  his  superiors 
regard  as  good  government,  is  in  the  same  category  as 
the  inquisitor  who  tortured  and  burned  his  fellow-man 
for  the  glory  of  God. 

•*  God  !  —  that  the  worm  whom  Thou  hast  made 
Should  thus  his  brother-worm  invade  ! 


STORY    OF    THK    LOPEZ    FAMILY         27 

Count  deeds  like  these  good  service  done. 
And  deem  Thine  eye  looks  smiling  on  !  " 

General  Bell,  whose  conscience  is  keener  apparently 
than  that  of  the  "seasoned  soldier,"  himself  declares 
that  he  considered  for  a  whole  month  the  adoption  ot 
these  methods,  and  that  he  finally  yielded  because  of 
"  necessity."  *  It  is  instructive  to  trace,  when  he  had 
thus  yielded  in  spite  of  the  prompting  of  conscience, 
how  he  reached  extremes  by  what  must  have  been 
familiarity   with   horror.      Not   only  were  the  ordinary 


*In  a  letter  written  to  a  friend  in  Washington,  dated  Batangas,  April 
10,  1902,  General  Bell  says  :  "The  policy  which  has  been  pursued  here 
is  absolutely  the  only  one  which  could  have  accomplished  such  results. 
Well  knowing  the  views  of  the  American  people  on  the  concentration  in 
Cuba,  you  can  readily  believe  that  it  has  been  a  time  of  great  anxiety 
to  me.  However,  I  thought  over  the  matter  for  a  month.  I  finally  be- 
came thoroughly  convinced  that  I  could  not  bring  peace  to  these  people 
and  FULFILL  MY  OBLIGATIONS  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT  in  any  Other  Way. 
.  .  .  Knowing  my  disposition  and  kindly  feeling  [ !  ]  toward  the  natives 
full  well,  you  will  have  no  difficulty  in  understanding  that  the  necessity 
for  severe  measures  has  been  a  source  of  distress  to  me." — Army  and 
Navy  Jmirnal. 

The  "views  of  the  American  people  on  the  concentration  in  Cuba" 
are  best  expressed  by  President  McKinley  in  his  first  message  to  Con- 
gress:  "This  cruel  policy  of  concentration  .  .  .  the  late  cabinet  of 
Spain  justified  as  a  necessary  measure  of  war  and  as  a  means  of  cutting 
off  supplies  from  the  insurgents.  ...  It  was  not  civilized  w'arfare :  it 
was  extermination.  Against  this  abuse  of  the  right  of  war  I  have  felt 
constrained  on  repeated  occasions  to  enter  the  firm  and  earnest  protest 
of  this  government."  In  a  subsequent  message  President  McKinley 
wrote  :  "  As  I  said  in  my  message  of  last  December,  it  was  not  civilized 
warfare:  it  was  extermination.  The  oiily  peace  it  could  beget  was  that 
of  the  wilderness  and  the  grave." 

Thus,  when  General  Bell  speaks  of  bringing  "  peace  to  these  people," 
President  McKinley  prophetically  tells  what  the  nature  of  the  peace  is 
to  be  :  "  that  of  the  wilderness  and  the  grave  "  1 


28         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

people  herded  like  cattle  in  concentration  camps  which 
have  elsewhere  been  described  as  "  suburbs  of  hell,"  but 
almost  all  of  the  prominent  men  in  Batangas  —  lawyers, 
doctors,  merchants  —  were  imprisoned  and  made  to  do 
hard  labor  in  the  streets  like  common  malefactors.  And 
to  sustain  these  men  in  this  unaccustomed  exertion,  in 
a  tropical  climate,  they  were  given  a  diet  of  rice  and 
salt! 

"Can  Ihonor  envcV* 

It  might  have  been  thought,  however,  that  the  Lopez 
family,  on  account  of  their  honorable  record  and  in  view 
of  the  services  they  had  rendered  to  the  American 
authorities,  would  have  received  some  consideration. 
But  neither  honorable  conduct,  nor  services  rendered, 
nor  hospitality  shown,  were  of  any  avail  in  the  presence 
of  a  policy  dictated  by  "  necessity."  Accordingly,  three 
of  the  Lopez  brothers  were  arrested,  and  imprisoned  for 
a  term  of  five  months  ;  the  family  house  at  Balayan,  and 
the  barns  and  storehouses  on  their  plantations,  were 
seized,  along  with  the  title-deeds  of  their  estates  and 
other  documents  and  papers  ;  their  steamship,  the 
"Purisima  Concepcion,"  was  confiscated  to  the  use  of 
the  military  authorities  ;  their  house  at  Abra-de-Ilog  in 
Mindoro,  though  it  had  frequently  given  shelter  to 
American  officers  during  the  stress  of  the  rainy  season, 
was  burned,  along  with  a  store  of  rice ;  and,  worst  of  all, 
one  of  their  superintendents  on  the  Balayan  plantations  — 
Isabelo  Capacia  —  was  tortured  to  death.* 

*  The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  letter  of  Senor  Ignacio  Laines, 
of  Balayan,  Batangas,  who,  at  the  request  of  the  Lopez  family,  made  an 
inquiry  into  the  circumstances  of  the  death  of  Isabelo  Capacia:  — 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         29 

At  the  time  of  these  arrests  only  three  of  the  family, 
Lorenzo,  Cipriano,  and  the  eldest  daughter,  Andrea,  were 
in  Batangas  under  General  Bell's  jurisdiction.  The 
mother,  Senora  Maria  Castelo,  with  Mariano,  Clemencia, 
Juliana,  and  Maria,  were  in  Manila.  Manuel,  though  a 
resident  of  Manila,  where  he  attended  to  the  shipping 
business,  had  gone  on  the  "  Purisima  "  to  Boac,  in  the 
island  of  Marinduque,  which  was  under  Civil  Government. 
General  Bell  had  no  jurisdiction  in  Boac  or  Manila, 
between  which  ports  the  "  Purisima  "  was  then  trading, 
and  the  manner  of  Manuel's  arrest  might  well  form  a 
subject  for  future  investigation  :  he  was  on  board  the 
•'Purisima"  at  Boac,  enjoying  "all  the  privileges  and 
immunities  "  of  Civil  Government,  when  Lieutenant  Allen, 
in  command  of  twenty-five  soldiers,  applied  to  him  to  be 
taken  to  Batangas.  Now,  the  ports  of  Batangas  had 
been    closed ;    and    Manuel,    though    he    regarded    the 


"...  I  will  now  continue  the  history  of  poor  Isabelo  until  his  un- 
happy death,  which  was  as  follows  :  .  .  .  Isabelo  was  taken  from  the 
prison  and  put  into  a  wagon  by  Inspector  Bunzon,  with  a  few  soldiers 
as  a  guard ;  they  then  went  to  the  town  of  Tuy,  where  a  company  of 
Macaljebe  'scouts'  was  stationed,  under  the  command  of  the  American 
otRcer,  Lieutenant  Shawski  [  ?  ].  The  next  day,  Tuesday,  Lieutenant 
Shawski,  Bunzon,  and  the  Macabebe  soldiers  took  Isabelo  to  the  bank 
of  the  river  Matauanak,  where,  after  having  wrapped  him  in  a  Carabao 
skin  and  attached  a  stone  to  his  belt  as  a  weight,  they  threw  him  into 
the  water,  allowing  him  to  be  entirely  submerged.  When  the  execu- 
tioners of  this  torture  saw  through  the  clear  water  that  the  victim  no 
longer  moved,  and  therefore  no  longer  breathed,  they  took  him  out  on 
the  bank,  where  they  terminated  their  torture  by  jumping  on  his  body, 
until  blood  burst  from  his  mouth,  nose,  eyes,  and  ears;  finally  breaking 
some  of  his  ribs,  and  thus  they  left  him  unconscious.  Having  accom- 
plished this,  Bunzon  returned  to  Balayan,  with  the  tortured  man,  com- 
pletely mangled,  stretched  out  in  the  wagon;  and  in  this  condition  he 
was  returned  to  the  detention  room  in  the  convent.  .  .  .  The  American 
physician  of  this  detachment,  Mr.  Cheedester  [  ?],  applied  all  the  con- 
venient remedies  to  save  the  tortured  man,  but  it  was  all  useless,  for  in 
a  little  while  he  died."     [See  complete  letter  hereinafter  printed.] 


30         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

request  as  in  reality  an  order,  hesitated  to  comply,  in  the 
absence  of  higher  authority.  Lieutenant  Allen  there- 
upon took  matters  into  his  own  hands,  commanding  that 
the  vessel  be  put  to  sea  for  Batangas,  and  giving  orders 
that  no  one  be  permitted  to  leave  the  boat.  Upon  his 
arrival  at  Batangas  Manuel  was  formally  placed  under 
arrest  and  the  steamer  was  seized  to  the  use  of  the 
United  States  government. 

Lorenzo,  the  delicate  one  of  the  family,  had  suffered 
for  years  from  a  chest  disorder.  He  required  special 
attention  as  to  food  and  clothing,  and,  indeed,  had  never, 
since  his  first  seizure  with  the  disease,  slept  out  of  his 
own  specially  prepared  bed.  Yet,  when  he  was  arrested 
with  Cipriano  and  Manuel,  he  was  compelled  to  sleep  on 
bare  stone  floors,  and  to  eat  "wretched  food"  during 
his  imprisonment  in  Batangas.  Apparently,  he  and 
they  would  have  suffered  from  starvation  had  it 
not  been  for  the  kindness  of  their  fellow-prisoners,  to 
whom  outside  relatives  supplied  food.  "  We  were  thus 
able,"  says  Manuel,  in  a  recent  account,  "to  eke  out 
our  fare  from  their  provisions,  and  did  not,  therefore, 
become  ill." 

Continuing,  Manuel  thus  tells  of  their  treatment 
during  the  first  month  of  their  imprisonment :  "  From 
l^atangas  they  took  us  to  [  the  Bay  of  Manila,  en  route 
to]  the  Island  of  Malagi,  Laguna  de  Bay,  as  exiles  ;  and 
you  cannot  imagine  the  kind  of  treatment  we  were  all 
subjected  to.  They  put  us  in  the  bottom  of  the  hold  of 
the  steamer  '  Legaspi,'  and  I  doubt  if  they  would  have 
treated  animals  so  inhumanly.  We  were  kept  there  for 
four  days,  and  if  we  had  been  thus  kept  much  longer, 
half  of  the  hundred  men  would  have  died  ;   as  it  was. 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         31 

many  of  them  became  ill."  One  can  imagine  what  this 
modification  of  the  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta  must  have 
meant  in  the  no  less  tropical  climate  of  Manila.  One 
hundred  prisoners  for  four  days  in  the  bottom  of  the 
hold  of  a  small  steamer  without  port-holes !  "  After- 
wards," proceeds  Manuel,  "  we  were  transferred  to  the 
steamer  '  Liscum,'  where  we  were  somewhat  better  off 
as  regards  space  during  the  following  fourteen  days. 
There  also  we  were  put  in  the  hold,  but  with  the  advan- 
tage that  this  boat  had  port-holes  through  which  the  air 
entered.  They  gave  us  the  best  place,  which  was  the 
space  provided  for  the  transportation  of  horses.  On  the 
14th  of  January  .  .  .  they  took  us  off  in  small  boats, 
towed  by  a  little  tug,  and  transported  us  to  Malagi,  an 
island  that  had  never  been  inhabited,  where  they  kept  us 
for  three  months  and  six  days." 

"...  ^bat  is  the  Question.** 

Now,  the  reader  may  very  naturally  ask  :  For  what 
reason  and  on  what  grounds  was  all  this  done  ?  That  is 
the  question  to  which  no  one  has  yet  been  able  to  obtain 
a  satisfactory  reply.  Was  it  that  the  Lopez  family  had 
abandoned  their  former  attitude  toward  the  American 
authorities .?  Or,  had  they  violated  any  of  the  common 
rules  of  neutrality  ?  They  are  conscious  of  no  such 
abandonment  or  violation.  No  charge  of  the  kind  has 
been  brought  against  them,  and  they  have  sought  in  vain 
for  an  explanation  of  the  unjust  treatment  to  which  they 
have  been  subjected.  There  was  no  formal  indictment 
at  the  time  of  the  arrest  of  the  three  brothers,  nor  at 
any   subsequent    period.      It    is   true  that  an   informal 


32         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

charge  was  made  against  Cipriano,  to  the  effect  that  he 
had  failed  to  give  up  certain  rifles  at  the  time  of  his 
surrender  to  Major  Bullard  ten  months  previously.  But 
after  what  appears  to  have  been  an  equally  informal 
inquiry,  undertaken  in  the  leisurely  manner  of  Spanish 
times,  the  charge  was  abandoned,  and  Cipriano,  though 
still  a  prisoner,  was  made  to  accept  a  position  of  some 
responsibility  under  the  military  government  of  the 
province. 

As  to  the  other  two  brothers,  the  only  reason  assigned 
for  their  arrest  appears  to  have  been  that  they  were 
brothers  of  Cipriano  and  Sixto.  This  would  indeed  be 
humorous  were  the  circumstances  less  serious,  for  at  the 
time  when  they  assumed  this  relation  to  Sixto,  or  he  to 
them,  they  were  too  young  to  know  better  and  too  feeble 
to  raise  successful  objection  ! 

During  the  imprisonment  of  all  three  brothers,  the 
family  made  repeated  representations  to  the  military 
authorities  in  Manila,  but  all  without  avail.  In  this  they 
had  the  able  and  kindly  assistance  of  Captain  George 
Curry,  the  Chief  of  the  Manila  Police,  and  formerly  an 
officer  in  "  Roosevelt's  Rough  Riders,"  who  communicated 
also  with  General  Bell.  In  reply,  General  Bell  stated 
that  "he  would  keep  Cipriano  in  prison  until  his  hair 
turned  gray,"  unless  he  delivered  up  the  above-mentioned 
rifles  (this  was  before  the  inquiry  had  been  held) ;  and 
that  as  to  Lorenzo  and  Manuel,  "  for  the  good  of  the 
government  they  had  better  remain  to  keep  Cipriano 
company  ;  besides,  as  they  were  brothers  of  Sixto  Lopez, 
who  was  a  great  enemy  of  the  government,  they  were 
justly  imprisoned  "  ! 

A  personal  application,  by  two  of  the  sisters,  to  General 


Josh    Ri/.\i.    and    ^>i\i<)    i.oi'KZ 

From  a  photograph  taken  in   Hong-Kong  in   iS<)I 

[  See   note   in   Hit   of  illustrations  ] 


STORY    OF    THK    LOPEZ    FAMILY 


33 


Bell  elicited  only  insult*  and  the  information  that  the 
intention  and  purpose  was  "  to  humiliate  the  Filipinos." 
So  also,  when  Mariano  Lopez  personally  applied  to 
Captain  Bash,  to  whom  he  had  been  referred  by  higher 
authority,  he  was  met  with  the  impolite  question  :  "  Why 
are  fou  not  a  prisoner?"  Indeed,  why  not?  He  too 
was  "a  brother  of  Sixto  Lopez," and  was  as  much  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  General  Bell  as  had  been  Manuel. 
"  I  do  not  know,"  said  Mariano ;  and  his  reply  was 
suggestive  of  a  deeper  meaning  than  at  first  appears ! 

''Bppeal  tbou  to  QxesivV* 

From  the  first  it  was  apparent  that  justice  would  not 
be  obtainable  in  the  Philippines.  The  military  were  the 
sole  judges  of  their  own  acts,  and  were  subject  to  all  the 
unconscious  bias  that  comes  from  looking  only  at  one 
side  of  the  shield.  The  Civil  Government  was  civil  only 
in  name,  and  was  unable  or  unwilling,  or  both,  even  to 
protest  against  the  arrest,  by  the  military,  of  Manuel 
who,  at  the  time,  was  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  civil 
authorities  and  not  under  that  of  General  Bell.  For 
these  and  other  reasons,  one  of  the  Lopez  sisters  deter- 
mined to  seek  justice  by  an  appeal  to  the  highest  authority. 
Accordingly,  within  twenty-four  hours  after  receiving  the 
news  of  her  brothers'  arrest,  —  which  reached  her  in 
Hong-Kong,  whither  she  and  her  youngest  sister,  all 
tmaware  of  the  calamity  that  had  befallen  the  family  in 
Batangas,  had  gone  to  visit  their  exiled  brother,  Sixto,  — 


*  It  is  only  fair  to  state  that  General  Bell  has  since  apologized  for  his 
rudeness,  stating,  in  explanation,  that  he  was  out  of  temper  at  the  time. 


34         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

Clemencia  Lopez,  with  characteristic  courage,  without 
relative  to  protect  or  experience  to  guide,  a  stranger  to 
the  outer  world,  started  on  her  long  journey  to  the 
United  States. 

Her  kindly  reception  in  Boston  by  relatives  and  friends 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fiske  Warren ;  the  assistance  they 
gave  her  in  her  unusual  mission  ;  and  the  nature  of  her 
audience  with  the  President  in  March,  are  more  or  less 
known  to  American  readers.  It  may  be  said  that  the 
President  showed  a  more  than  ordinary  interest  in  her 
case,  and,  as  was  to  have  been  expected,  referred  her 
petition  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  with  instructions  that 
it  was  to  have  early  attention. 

After  some  delay,  in  reply  to  an  inquiry  by  Mrs. 
Sam.uel  D.  W^arren,  who,  with  friendly  interest,  had 
accompanied  Miss  Lopez  to  Washington  and  introduced 
her  to  the  President,  the  following  letter  was  received 
from  Mr.  Secretary  Cortelyou  : 

"White  House,  Washington,  April  23,  1902. 
"  Dear  Madam : 

"  The  President  has  received  your  note  of  the  22nd 
instant,  and  requests  me  to  say  in  reply  that  he  has  gone 
carefully  over  with  the  War  Department  the  matter  of 
which  you  write,  having  been  in  correspondence  with  the 
authorities  at  Manila  and  in  consultation  with  Governor 
Taft  here,  and  that  he  does  not  think  anything  can 
properly  be  done.  He  will  see  Secretary  Root  on  his 
return  from  Cuba,  but  there  appears  to  be  a  consensus 
of  opinion  that  no  injustice  was  done. 
"  Very  truly,  yours, 

"George  R.  Cortelyou, 

"  Secretaiy  to  the  President. 
"  Mrs.  Mabel  Bayard  Warren, 
"  Boston,  Mass." 


SrORY    OF    THK    LOPEZ    FAMILY         35 

Naturally,  nothing  was  to  have  been  expected  from 
"the  authorities  at  Manila,"  who  had  inflicted  the  injus- 
tice, nor  from  "Governor  Taft,"  who  practically  had 
recommended  it.  When  William  II.,  of  Germany,  dis- 
missed his  aged  Chancellor  there  was  a  certain  admira- 
tion for  the  young  Emperor,  provoked  by  his  determina- 
tion to  be  Emperor  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name.  However, 
it  was,  of  course,  difficult  for  the  President  to  interfere 
with  the  acts  of  generals  in  the  field,  athough,  if  abso- 
lutely no  supervision  is  to  be  exercised  and  no  interfer- 
ence tolerated,  then  the  military  become  complete  masters 
of  any  situation,  and  can  conduct  matters  according  to 
their  own  sweet  will.  But  proper  respect  demands  that 
criticism  in  this  connection  shall  be  confined  to  the 
merest  generalities. 

Not  so  with  the  wording  of  Mr.  Cortelyou's  reply, 
which  must  be  regarded  as  somewhat  unfortunate.  Here 
was  a  petitioner  who  had  come  from  a  people  repeatedly 
alleged  to  be  in  ignorance  of  "  the  beneficent  purposes 
of  the  United  States"  ;  who  believed  that  a  great  injus- 
tice had  been  done  her  and  her  family  ;  who  was  con- 
scious of  the  futility  of  seeking  justice  from  those  who 
had  inflicted  the  injury ;  and  who  had  come  all  the  way 
to  America  filled  with  hope  and  in  the  belief  that  those 
who  had  wrongfully  imprisoned  her  brothers  were  not  rep- 
resentative of  the  justness  and  kindness  of  the  American 
people.  Now,  if  Mr.  Cortelyou's  reply  had  admitted  the 
hardship  of  the  case ;  if  it  had  pleaded  temporary  mili- 
tary necessity,  a  plea  so  frequently  made  use  of  in  other 
directions  ;  if  it  had  counseled  patience  and  given  assur- 
ance of  final  justice.  Miss  Lopez  and  her  fellow-country- 
men would  have  felt  that  there  were  essential  justice  and 


.36    STORY  OF  THE  LOPEZ  FAMILY 

good  will  at  the  centre  of  authority.  But  the  effect 
upon  Miss  Lopez,  of  the  inconclusive  reply  that  "there 
appears  to  be  a  consensus  of  opinion  that  no  injjLStice 
was  done,"  must  be  left  to  the  imagination  of  those  who 
have  the  sympathetic  power  of  placing  themselves  in 
her  position.  Fortunately,  she  was  in  the  hands  of  her 
kindly  hostess.  Miss  Cornelia  Warren,  whose  sympathy 
and  counsel  were  all  that  Mr.  Cortelyou's  reply  was  not. 
There  still  remained  one  faint  possibility :  the  Presi- 
dent "  will  see  Secretary  Root  on  his  return  from  Cuba." 
Perhaps  the  phrase  was  a  mere  formality,  but,  to  one 
who  pondered  in  the  silent  watches  of  the  night  on  the 
sufferings  of  dear  ones  in  a  distant  land,  here  was  some- 
thing which  hope  might  cling  to  and  love  interpret  in  its 
own  way. 

**^be  XaWs  Delays/' 

If,  however,  a  decision  was  arrived  at  by  seeing  Sec- 
retary Root,  only  those  then  present,  and  perhaps  the 
angels  in  heaven,  know  of  its  nature.  Up  to  the  pres- 
ent time  no  intimation  of  it  has  reached  Miss  Lopez. 
But  in  a  printed  document  issued  by  the  Senate  Com- 
mittee on  the  Philippines  there  is  a  deliverance  by  Mr. 
Charles  E.  Magoon,  "  Law  Officer,  Division  of  Insular 
Affairs,"  dated  i  ith  of  April,  in  which  it  is  recommended 
that  "the  application  to  the  President  by  Clemencia 
Lopez  for  the  release  from  arrest  and  detention  of  her 
three  brothers,  Lorenzo,  Cipriano,  and  Manuel  ...  be 
denied."  Whether  this  recommendation,  addressed  to 
the  Secretary  of  War,  was  adopted  by  the  President  is 
not  known.  The  Lopez  brothers  have  since  been  re- 
leased along  with,  or  shortly  after  the   release  of,  their 


STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY        37 

fellow-prisoners,  but  the  mystery  of  their  imprisonment 
remains  a  mystery  still.  Indeed,  the  statement  of  Mr. 
Magoon  only  serves  to  intensify  the  mystery.  For  if  his 
theory  as  to  the  powers  of  a  commanding  general  be 
correct, —  if,  as  he  claims,  the  immunity  from  interfer- 
ence enjoyed  by  non-combatants  is  due  entirely  "to  the 
grace  of  the  conqueror,"  and  if  General  Bell  therefore 
had  the  right  to  arrest  and  imprison  those  within  his 
jurisdiction  to  whom  even  "  suspicion  "  attached,  there 
might  have  been  some  shadow  of  justification  for  the 
imprisonment  of  Cipriano  Lopez,  against  whom  there 
was  at  least  an  unfounded  charge.  But  how  does  the 
theory  apply  to  Lorenzo,  who  had  always  lived  at  peace 
with  all  men,  never  even,  as  far  as  is  known,  expressing 
an  opinion  for  or  against  American  rule,  and  to  whom 
no  suspicion  could  conceivably  attach  ?  If  General  Bell 
really  had  the  right  to  arrest  such  men  as  Lorenzo,  he 
must  indeed  have  had  the  right  to  arrest  any  one  within 
his  jurisdiction.  This  is  certainly  an  extraordinary  de- 
cision, which,  it  is  hoped,  will  not  be  accepted  as  a 
precedent  in  military  jurisprudence.  But,  admitting  for 
the  moment  its  correctness,  where  did  General  Bell  obtain 
the  right,  and  whence  the  legal  authority,  to  arrest  and 
imprison  Manuel,  who  was  in  a  part  of  the  archipelago 
then  under  civil  rule  and  not  within  General  Bell's  juris- 
diction }  These  are  points  not  touched  upon  in  Mr. 
Magoon's  hasty  deliverance. 

"THaben  Boctots  Differ/* 

But  Mr.  Magoon,  apparently  unintentionally,  removes 
the  last  remaining  shred  of  suspicion  against  the  Lopez 


38         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

family,  thus  leaving  General  Bell,  whom  he  is  endeavor- 
ing to  support,  without  the  shadow  of  a  pretext  for  the 
actions  complained  of.  The  Lopez  family  have  been 
informed,  by  several  military  officers  in  the  Philippines 
with  whom  they  were  on  friendly  terms,  that  the  arrest 
of  their  brothers  was  in  order  to  secure  the  "  submission 
of  Sixto  Lopez,"  and  that  the  seizure  of  their  property 
was  in  order  to  prevent  their  giving  him  pecuniary  sup- 
port in  his  work  in  America.  This  would  almost  seem 
incredible  were  it  not  that  incredible  things  are  forever 
occurring  in  the  Philippines.  The  confiscating  of  their 
steamer,  at  that  time  their  only  means  of  livelihood,  and 
the  seizure  of  the  title-deeds  of  their  estates,  which 
would  prevent  the  securing  of  advances,  seem  to  lend 
countenance  to  the  theory.  Captain  Curry  takes  a  sim- 
ilar view :  "  These  harsh  measures,"  he  writes  to  Mr. 
Warren,  "  were  believed  by  General  Bell  to  be  necessary  ; 
and  whereas  I  differ  with  him  as  to  the  guilt  of  the 
Lopez  brothers,  they  are  undoubtedly  suffering  largely 
on  account  of  their  brother,  Sixto  Lopez,"  The  "guilt 
of  the  Lopez  brothers  "  refers  to  the  above-mentioned 
charge  against  Cipriano,  which,  upon  inquiry,  was  aban- 
doned by  General  Bell,  thus  confirming  Captain  Curry's 
opinion  as  to  the  innocence  of  the  brothers,  in  spite  of 
Mr.  Magoon's  contention  that  the  General  was  a  better 
judge  than  the  Captain.  But  General  Bell  himself  prac- 
tically admits  that  these  arrests  and  seizures  were  for 
the  purpose  of  securing  the  acquiescence  of  Sixto  Lopez 
in  American  rule ;  for,  in  a  letter  to  General  Wheaton, 
written  only  fourteen  days  after  the  arrests,  General 
Bell  says  :  "These  people  need  a  thrashing  to  teach  them 
some  common  sense  [!],  and  they  should  have  it  for  the 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY        39 

good  of  all  concerned.  Sixto  Lopez  is  now  interested 
in  peace  because  I  have  in  jail  all  the  male  members  of 
his  family  found  in  my  jurisdiction  [and  one  v\o\.  found 
in  his  jurisdiction  !],  and  have  seized  his  houses  and  palay 
(rice)  and  his  steamer,  the  '  Purisima  Concepcion,'  for  the 
use  of  the  Government."  The  fact  that  Sixto  Lopez 
had  always  been  "  interested  in  peace,"  and  that  he  had 
urged  his  own  countrymen  as  well  as  those  in  America 
to  adopt  peaceable  means,  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
known  to  General  Bell.  So  too,  the  General  assumes 
that  Sixto  Lopez  was  a  member  of  the  Hong-Kong  Junta 
—  an  assumption  which  is  not  sustained  by  fact.  On  the 
contrary,  Sixto  Lopez  has  never  belonged  to  any  Junta, 
and  has  always  had  serious  differences  with  the  Junta  at 
Hong-Kong  as  to  its  war-policy.  Nevertheless,  on  the 
document  of  release  of  the  Lopez  brothers  there  is  this 
endorsement  on  the  upper  margin  of  the  paper  :  "Brother 
of  Sixto  Lopez,  member  of  the  Hong-Kong  Junta." 
This  is  the  only  indictment  against  them  ;  it  provides 
strong  confirmation  of  the  theory  of  Captain  Curry 
and  other  officers  that  the  Lopez  brothers  "  are  undoubt- 
edly suffering  largely  on  account  of  their  brother,  Sixto 
Lopez." 

Now,  if  General  Bell  construed  the  relationship  of  the 
Lopez  brothers  to  Sixto  as  a  ground  of  suspicion  or  a 
cause  of  complaint,. he  must  have  done  so  without  the 
knowledge,  sanction,  or  approval  of  the  Law  Officer  of 
the  Department  of  Insular  Affairs.  For  Mr.  Magoon 
elaborately  denies  that  Sixto  Lopez  had  or  could  have 
anything  to  do  with  the  arrest  of  the  Lopez  brothers. 
"No  one,"  says  Mr.  Magoon,  "has  ever  considered  his 
[Sixto  Lopez's]  presence  in  the  United  States,  or  the 


40         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

efforts  in  which  he  was  engaged,  as  in  any  degree  jeop- 
ardizing the  interests  or  plans  of  the  United  States.  The 
political  complications  in  respect  of  the  Philippines  which 
have  arisen  in  the  United  States  and  the  obstacles  encount- 
ered ill  the  Philippines  would  have  been  the  same  had 
Sixto  Lopez  never  existed.  .  .  .  His  public  utterances 
have  been  advantageous  to  the  Administration  rather 
than  otherwise.  ...  I  am  unable  to  discover,  either  in 
the  papers  filed  with  this  application  or  in  the  records  of 
the  War  Department,  any  evidence  that  General  Bell,  in 
ordering  the  action  complained  of,  took  thought  of  its 
possible  effect  upon  Sixto  Lopez."  (The  italics  are  not 
Mr.  Magoon's.) 

Thus  the  plea  put  forth,  or  at  any  rate  implied,  by 
General  Bell  and  others  in  the  Philippines,  is  haughtily 
repudiated  by  Mr.  Magoon  in  Washington.  This  is 
interesting,  but  it  does  not  serve  to  clear  up  the  mystery 
of  the  arrest  of  the  Lopez  brothers.  Indeed,  the  only 
gleam  of  light  thrown  on  the  mystery  by  Mr,  Magoon's 
prolix  deliverance  is  found  in  the  affront  which  he  offers 
Miss  Lopez  by  implying  that  she  was  ready  to  become 
the  tool  of  those  whom  he  unwarrantably  charges  with 
seeking  to  secure  "  the  sympathy  Americans  naturally 
feel  for  a  woman  in  distress,  whatever  the  cause!'  Rud- 
yard  Kipling  tells,  in  his  '*  Brushwood  Boy,"  how  Cottar 
discovers  that  there  are  "things  no  fellow  can  do"  ;  that 
is  to  say,  there  are  things  which  no  gentleman  must  do 
—  even  in  an  official  capacity.  The  demeanor  of  Gen- 
eral Bell  toward  two  of  the  Lopez  sisters  in  Manila, 
and  that  of  Mr.  Magoon  toward  the  other  sister  in 
America,  indicate  a  contempt,  born  of  unconscious  race 
prejudice,  which  helps  to  explain  the  matter.     It  is  in- 


STORY    OF    THK    LOFKZ    FAMILY         41 

conceivable  that  cither  of  these  gentlemen  would  offer 
insult  under  similar  circumstances  to  women  of  their 
own  race,  or  treat  those  whom  they  regarded  as  equals 
in  the  manner  they  hax'c  treated  the  Lope^  brothers. 
But  when  dealing  with  a  race  of  people  for  whom  con- 
tempt is  felt,  any  reason,  or  no  reason  at  all,  is  suffi- 
cient excuse  for  the  infliction  of  a  convenient  injustice, 
Lorenzo  and  Cipriano  and  Manuel  know  this  to  be  true ; 
General  Bell  and  Mr.  Magoon  have  simply  furnished  the 
proof. 

Miss  Lopez  will  therefore  return  to  her  own  country 
wiser  only  in  experience  and  in  the  knowledge  that  even 
good  men,  who  act  in  violation  of  fundamental  principle, 
arc  sometimes  powerless  to  rectify  an  incidental  injustice, 
however  great. 

"tTbe  ipalm,  tor  the  ©l(vc*:fi5ranch/* 

But  let  honor  be  given  where  it  is  due.  It  must  be 
said  that  the  President  showed  interest  in  Miss  Lopez's 
case,  and  it  may  be  presumed  that  he  felt  sympathy  for 
those  in  distress.  His  personal  intervention,  if  it  did  not 
secure  or  hasten  the  release  of  the  Lopez  brothers,  appar- 
ently did  service  in  ameliorating  their  condition  during 
the  remainder  of  their  term  of  imprisonment.  In  marked 
contrast  with  their  treatment  already  described  is  the 
account  given  by  Manuel  of  how  they  fared  later : 
"Company  H  of  the  28th  Infantry,"  says  Manuel,  "who 
were  our  custodians,  and  especially  the  officers,  behaved 
themselves  divinely  toward  the  three  of  us.  They  were 
very  gentlemanly  in  their  bearing,  gave  us  whatever  we 
asked  for,  and  treated  us  with  every  consideration." 


42         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

To  the  President's  personal  intervention  may  also  be 
attributed  the  wonderful  manner  in  which  the  Lopez 
brothers  have  been  restored  to  American  favor  since 
their  release.  The  whole  family  have  been  shown  marked 
kindness,  and  Cipriano,  who  was  to  have  been  kept  in 
prison  until  time  whitened  his  locks  and  dimmed  his  eye, 
has  received  special  consideration  and  praise  from  General 
Bell.  Thus,  one  of  the  sisters  writes  :  "  General  Bell, 
of  whom  three  provinces  had  such  a  horror,  has  suddenly 
assumed  very  gracious  manners  and  is  quite  affable 
toward  the  Lopez  family,  I  have  good  reason  to  say 
so,  for  the  pass  which  he  gave  Cipriano,  for  Abra  de  Hog 
and  the  whole  island  of  Mindoro,  absolutely  prohibits  all 
the  chiefs  of  detachments  from  interfering  with  Cipriano 
and  our  interests  there,  and  orders  that  they  shall  put 
no  obstacles  in  the  way  of  his  business  transactions, 
unless  his  own  actions  should  give  them  good  cause  ; 
and  that  even  then  no  one  must  arrest  him  without 
previously  obtaining  the  consent  of  General  Chaffee. 
You  must  know  that  Cipriano  is  in  favor  with  General 
Bell ;  the  latter  can  do  nothing  but  praise  him,  and  he 
treated  him  well  toward  the  last.  What  is  more,  one 
day  when  the  General  was  in  the  office  of  the  Provost 
of  Batangas  he  ordered  Cipriano  to  be  called  in  order 
that  he  might  apologize  to  him  for  the  manner  in  which 
he  had  treated  Maria  and  me ;  for  according  to  the 
General's  account,  he  was  in  a  bad  temper  at  the 
time,  and  said  that  we  should  pardon  him,  for  he 
was  really  ashamed.  He  told  Captain  Curry  the  same 
thing." 

Later,  the  same  sister  writes  :  "  Last  Sunday  we  were 
obliged  to  attend  a  ball,  given,  according  to  their  [the 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         43 

American  oflficers']  account,  in  honor  of  the  ladies  of  the 
Lopez  family,  which  took  place  in  the  Commandancia ; 
and  this,  in  spite  of  the  objections  we  made  in  order  to 
avoid  going.  We  were  there  until  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  when  they  at  last  permitted  us  to  leave.  It 
was  quite  gay,  for  almost  all  Balayan  was  there  ;  and 
besides,  they  had  made  much  preparation,  so  that  they 
had  everything.  At  any  other  time  I  should  have  been 
somewhat  diverted,  but  at  present,  far  from  being  so,  I 
was  sad,  and  the  more  attention  they  paid  us  the  more  I 
wished  to  cry. 

"You  cannot  imagine,  Clemen,  how  gallant  and  def- 
erential these  egregious  officers  are  toward  us.  Without 
going  any  further  for  an  example,  every  time  they  receive 
cablegrams  with  sensational  news,  or  newspapers,  the)- 
can  hardly  take  time  to  get  them  to  us.  Last  night  they 
brought  their  large  phonograph  (I  have  not  seen  so  large 
a  one  even  in  Manila),  so  that  we  might  hear  it ;  and 
other  things  of  the  same  sort.  So  that  we  can  do  no 
less  than  be  grateful  to  them." 

The  breath  comes  quickly  and  the  tear  steals  down 
one's  cheek  when  one  thinks  of  the  essential  good- 
heartedness  of  these  officers  in  their  almost  boyish 
attempts  to  make  some  sort  of  reparation  for  the  wrong 
that  has  been  done.  Indeed,  there  is  more  than  good- 
heartedness  in  all  this.  General  Bell  and  his  officers 
have  been  brought  into  closer  touch  with  some  of  the 
Filipinos.  Is  it  possible  that  the  great  viisii7iderstanding 
vanished  ?  The  two  contestants  stand  face  to  face  as 
man  to  man.  There  is  no  plea  that  can  justify,  no  policy 
that  can  shield.  Do  they  now  see  each  other's  point  of 
view,  do  they  know  each  other's  motives  and  mistakes  t 


44        STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

Has  resentment  turned  to  sorrow,  and  has  something 
been  born  in  each  heart  which  asks  :  "  Was  it  for  this, 
my  brother,  tliat  we  sought  each  other's  hfe  ? " 


"IReturn,  ©  Hsrael." 

But  the  wrong  has  yet  to  be  righted  —  the  wrong  not 
only  to  the  individual  but  to  the  people.  The  one  is  the 
result  of  the  other,  and  both  are  because  of  a  violation 
of  principle.  All  of  the  misunderstanding,  all  the  injus- 
tice, all  the  evil,  all  the  cruelty  and  horror  are  due  to  the 
violation  of  an  eternal  principle  which  affirms  the  right 
of  every  people  to  govern  itself.  And  all  the  considera- 
tions about  "philanthropic  intention"  and  the  "white 
man's  burden  "  and  the  "  elevation  of  alien  races  "  and 
the  "  blessings  of  good  government "  and  the  "  resplen- 
dent world-mission  of  America"  cannot  excuse  the  viola- 
tion of  that  principle  or  obviate  the  evils  and  horrors 
that  must  follow  its  violation. 

Assuredly,  America  has  a  resplendent  world-mission 
to  perform  —  the  mission  of  planting  not  the  fruits  but 
the  principles  of  liberty  in  every  corner  of  the  earth 
where  despotism  reigns  to-day.  For  wherever  the  prin- 
ciples of  liberty  are  planted,  the  fruits  —  light  and  law 
and  good  government  —  are  sure  to  follow.  No  need 
for  Old  World  methods,  which  have  done  a  little  good 
and  an  incalculable  amount  of  evil ;  the  good  being 
lauded  and  magnified  in  order  to  cover  up  the  evil.  No 
need  of  the  sword,  except  to  defend.  The  emblem  of 
Liberty  is  the  wand,  not  the  sword  —  the  wand  to  point, 
not  the  sword  to  kill. 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY        45 

There  is  a  rule  that  embraces  all  principles  and  is  the 
test  of  ail  policies.  It  is  as  old  as  human  sympathy  and 
known  to  all,  yet  acted  upon  by  few.  It  stands  to  con- 
demn the  evil  of  the  past,  yet  marks  a  startinr,^-point  for 
the  future.  Let  America,  the  God-favored  of  peoples, 
be  the  first  to  elevate  the  Golden  Rule  to  a  place  in  the 
conduct  of  nations. 


46         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 


Letters   from   the    East 

THE  Bard  of  Avon,  to  whose  receptive  mind  every- 
thing in  Nature  had  a  meaning,  could  discover 
"  tongues  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks, 
sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  every  tiling!' 
This  gem  of  alhterative  wit  and  philosophy  concludes 
with  a  hteral  though  startling  truth  ;  and  this,  in  spite  of 
the  difficulty  of  discovering  good  in  some  of  the  darker 
pages  of  this  world's  history.  Certainly,  to  those  who 
possess  a  measure  of  human  sympathy,  and  a  love  of 
liberty  which  rises  to  the  giving  of  equal  liberty  to  others, 
it  might  be  beyond  reasonable  expectation  to  find  even 
an  incidental  good  in  the  merciless  phases  of  the  Philip- 
pine war.  Yet  in  this,  too,  Shakespeare  stands  confirmed. 
For,  as  a  result  of  the  imprisonment  of  the  Lopez 
brothers,  there  has  been  unfolded  a  series  of  family 
letters  of  unusual  interest  and  value.  Indeed,  it  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that  never  before  have  letters  of 
such  a  character  been  received  from  the  dreamy  East. 

Devoid  of  any  pretension  to  literary  merit  or  descrip- 
tive art,  these  letters  present  in  the  easy  simplicity  of 
truth  a  picture  of  the  life  and  character  of  an  Eastern 
people  which  even  a  master  hand  might  fail  to  delineate. 
Breathing  a  spirit  of  the  purest  family  and  filial  devotion, 
pathetic  and  unintentionally  humorous  in  turn,  merciless 
in  their  scorn  of  false  friend  or  unworthy  foe,  frank  in 
admitting  or  correcting  a  former  error  or  false  report, 
they  are  full  to  overflowing  of  Filipino  human  nature  — 
remarkably  like  human  nature  the  world  over.  All  the 
more  valuable  are  they  because  they  were  not  written 
for  purposes  of  display  or  to  obtain  notoriety.     They  are 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         47 

simply  family  letters  intended  for  private  perusal  only, 
and  were  written  solely  for  the  purpose  of  informing; 
those  who  were  absent  of  the  misfortunes  that  had 
befallen  the  persons  and  property  of  the  family.  Yet 
unintentionally  they  serve  a  different  and  an  even  more 
interesting  purpose,  by  giving,  as  has  been  said,  an  other- 
wise unobtainable  picture  of  family  life  in  the  Philippines, 
and  an  insight  into  Filipino  life  and  character,  entirely 
new  to  the  Western  world. 

Most  of  these  letters  are  the  work  of  a  young  Filipina, 
suddenly  called  upon  to  assume  responsibilities  beyond 
her  years.  Up  to  that  time  the  duties  and  responsibilities 
of  the  Lopez  family  had  been  divided  among  its  elder 
members  according  to  natural  ability  and  inclination. 
Thus,  Senora  Castelo,  with  Lorenzo  and  Cipriano,  man- 
aged the  Balayan  estates;  Mariano  was  the  politician, 
the  lawyer,  the  "gentleman"  of  the  family;  Sixto  was 
its  natural-born  and  paternally  appointed  patriot ;  Manuel 
attended  to  all  that  went  down  to  the  sea  in  ships  ; 
Andrea  was  the  domestic  "  house-body "  and  second 
mother  to  the  family  ;  Clemencia  was  the  general  con-e- 
spondent  and  factotum,  and  was  her  mother's  right  hand  ; 
while  Juliana,  Jose,  and  Maria  were  still  regarded  as  the 
"  children  of  the  family,"  and,  as  such,  were  struggling 
with  arts  and  accomplishments  befitting  the  present 
utilitarian  and  genteel  era!  Suddenly,  all  this  was 
changed,  and  in  the  change  Senora  Castelo  discovered 
that  there  were  latent  powers  in  Juliana,  the  eldest  of  the 
three  "  children,"  who  was  found  to  be  in  reality  no  child 
but  a  second  Clemencia.  Upon  her,  therefore,  devolved 
many  duties  hitherto  performed  by  other  members  of 
the  family,  among  which  was  that  of  family  correspond- 
ent. In  this  she  was  assisted  by  Mariano  and  little 
Maria,  the  former  giving  solidity,  the  latter  quaintness, 
to  the  correspondence. 

The  letters  were,  of  course,  written  in  Spanish,  but 
faithful  translations  have  been  made  by  Miss  Helen  C. 
Wilson,  a  graduate  of  Radcliffe  College,  and  for  some 


48         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

time  engaged  in  educational  work  in  Cuba.  These  trans- 
lations retain,  in  a  rather  remarkable  manner,  the  simple 
character  of  the  originals,  upon  which  no  attempt  has 
been  made  to  improve.  Finally,  it  should  be  stated  that 
a  few  unimportant  paragraphs  have  been  omitted  from 
the  translations,  chiefly  because  they  were  regarded  as 
wholly  uninteresting  to  the  general  reader,  and  with  a 
view  to  economy  in  space. 


The    Lopez   Letters 

The  first  letter  is  from  Juliana  ["  Ninay "]  to  her 
sisters,  Clemencia  and  Maria,  then  on  a  visit  to  Sixto  at 
Hong-Kong.  Juliana  and  the  rest  of  the  family  at 
Manila  were  at  the  time  unaware  of  the  arrest  of  the 
three  brothers  at  Boac  and  Balayan,  which  had  occurred 
three  days  previously. 

For  the  sake  of  clearness  it  should  be  mentioned  that 
in  this  and  all  future  letters  the  name  "  Quita  "  is  used 
as  an  abbreviation  of  Mariquita,  the  diminutive  of  Maria. 
"Clemen"  stands,  of  course,  for  Clemencia. 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  and  Maria  Lopez,  then  at  Hong-Kong.] 

Manila,  December  17,  1901. 

My  Dear  Sisters  :  I  suppose  that  by  this  time  you 
can  already  distinguish  from  the  deck  of  the  steamer  the 
shores  of  Hong-Kong,  and  so,  only  a  few  hours  will  elapse 
before  you  arrive  and  quickly  see  Sixto  and  our  friends, 
whom  also  you  have  not  seen  for  some  time,  though  not 
for  so  long. 

I  write  to  tell  you  that  I  am  delighted  because  of  the 
joy  it  will  give  you  to  see  at  last  our  dear  brother  and 
never-to-be-forgotten  friends,  who  will  be  astonished,  not 
expecting  to  see  you  so  soon. 


Juliana    I.oi'kz 
fVhose  letters  form  the  basis  of  this  book 


STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY        49 

Yes,  from  the  time  you  start'  cl  until  now  I  have  been 
counting  the  hours  it  will  take  you  to  reach  them,  and 
have  been  making  conjectures  as  to  how  you  have  passed 
the  journey,  whether  Clemen  would  be  very  seasick  and 
whether  Quita  would  eat  as  well  on  board  as  ashore, 
in  spite  of  her  promise  to  me  never  to  lose  her  liking  for 
food.  I  am  sure  you  will  be  very  cold  and  that  the  cli- 
mate there  will  affect  you  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  Clemen 
said  it  would  not ;  and  I  say  this  because  for  two  nights 
we  have  felt  it  here,  and  it  has  indeed  troubled  us. 

Yesterday  morning  I  telegraphed  to  Lorenzo,  through 
[Lieutenant]  Raymond,  telling  him  of  your  departure 
and  of  that  of  your  companions,  and  I  also  wrote  him 
by  post  a  long  letter,  telling  him  many  things.  "VVe  do 
not  intend  to  go  back  to  Balayan  this  week,  but  shall  go 
next  week  if  they  give  us  a  pass,  for  it  is  said  that  well- 
to-do  persons,  that  is,  those  who  can  live  comfortably 
here  in  Manila,  will  not  be  allowed  to  return  to  their 
towns.  As  I  am  not  sure  about  this  information,  I  shall 
try  to  get  permission  through  our  friends,  and  as  soon  as 
we  obtain  it  we  shall  make  haste  to  leave  here  as  soon 
as  possible,  lest  other  laws  be  passed  and  Balayan  be 
completely  closed  against  us  so  that  it  would  be  impos- 
sible for  us  to  go  there.  We  know  nothing  of  Balayan 
and  believe  it  is  quiet,  for  otherwise  they  would  have 
telegraphed  us  telling  us  what  was  happening. 

I  will  not  write  any  more  for  fear  of  missing  the  mail. 

Our  affectionate  regards  to  all  our  friends,  and  in  par- 
ticular to  Messrs.  Warren  and  Patterson,  whom  I  remem- 
ber always  and  shall  never  forget.  Receive  an  embrace 
from  your  sister,  Ninay  [Juliana]. 


[The  foregoing  letter  is  interesting  only  because  of 
its  natural,  almost  commonplace  simplicity.  There  is  not 
a  striking  thought  or  a  noteworthy  phrase  in  its  little 
summary  of  little  things.  It  might  have  been  written 
by  any  young  girl  in  America  or  Europe,  fresh  from  a 


50         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ   FAMILY 

convent  school,  as,  indeed,  was  the  case  with  its  youthful 
author. 

**  Little  things  minister  pleasure. 
As  ever  it  fares  with  the  good." 

It  represents  Juliana  before  she  was  transformed  by  trial 
and  responsibility.  Its  only  value  is  that  it  furnishes  a 
means  of  comparing  Juliana  as  she  was  with  Juhana  as 
she  now  is,  as  shown  in  her  later  letters. 


■^9i 


The  next  letter  is  a  hurried  announcement  of  the 
trouble  that  had  suddenly  befallen  the  family,  Juliana 
is  still  the  convent  school-girl.  There  is  no  expression 
of  depth  of  feeling,  for  there  were  then  no  depths  into 
which  feeling  could  penetrate.  A  great  trouble  may 
sometimes  be  known  without  being  realized.  It  requires 
trial  and  suffering  and  experience  to  deepen  and  broaden 
the  soul,  and  give  intensity  to  feeling  and  feeling  to 
expression.] 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  and  Maria  Lopez,  then  at  Hong-Kong.] 

Manila,  December  19,  1901. 
Dear  Sisters  :  With  much  sorrow  of  heart  and  dis- 
tress I  write  to  tell  you  that  Lorenzo,  Cipriano,  and 
Manuel  have  been  arrested,  the  first  two  in  Balayan 
[province  of  Batangas],  and  Manuel,  I  suppose,  in  Boac ; 
and  all  three  are  prisoners  in  the  jail  at  Batangas  [the 
city].  According  to  information  we  received  last  Friday, 
the  1 3th,  our  house  was  thoroughly  searched,  and  the 
title-deeds  and  also  some  money  were  taken  away.  On 
the  night  of  the  same  day  the  "  Purisima  "  went  to  take 
Lorenzo  and  Cipriano,  and  Manuel  went  in  the  steamer 
with  the  other  two  to  Batangas.     It  is  also  said  that  the 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         51 

keys  to  the  rice  storehouse  are  in  the  hands  of  the  com- 
manding officer,  so  that  nothing  can  be  taken  out  with- 
out his  pennission.  The  crew  of  the  "  Purisima  "  are 
also  prisoners. 

This  news  will  surprise  you  as  much  as  it  surprised 
me.  Mother  does  not  know  it  yet,  and  I  shall  not  tell 
her,  for  it  would  kill  her.  We  are  working,  and  hope 
justice  will  be  done  them  and  that  they  will  be  set  at 
liberty. 

I  inclose  a  cutting  from  the  Diario  de  Filipitias.  Our 
friends  who  have  read  it  are  astonished  (if  Sixto  has 
really  had  interviews  with  these  gentlemen)  that  he 
should  have  so  bound  himself ;  as  it  is  not  in  their  hands 
to  secure  the  fulfillment  of  the  promise.  Moreover,  the 
lawyer  with  whom  Sixto  conferred  is  not  to  be  trusted, 
according  to  those  who  know  him. 

I  do  not  know  what  to  do,  but  through  it  all  I  hope 
justice  will  be  done,  since,  as  you  know,  they  are  inno- 
cent. 

Good-bye.  Consider  what  you  ought  to  do,  whether 
you  ought  to  return  or  not. 

Your  sister,  Ninay. 


[A  word  of  explanation  is  necessary  with  respect  to 
the  above  reference  to  a  cutting  from  the  Diario  de 
Filipijias. 

Sixto  Lopez,  during  his  stay  in  Hong-Kong,  had  had 
several  interviews  with  Judge  Ladd  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  Philippines,  and  with  Captain  Dwyer  and 
Attorney  Tirrell,  both  of  Manila,  who  were  anxious  to 
secure  his  services  in  the  cause  of  peace.  Senor  Lopez 
had,  among  other  things,  pointed  out  that  to  yield  to  the 
demand  that  he  should  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to 
America  would  at  once  destroy  whatever  influence  he 
might  otherwise  have  with  Malvar.  But  he  assured 
these  gentlemen  that  he  would  give  his  word  of  honor 
to    refrain  from   inciting  or  encouraging  those   in   the 


52         STORY   OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

field  to  further  armed  resistance.  Satisfied  with  the 
reasonableness  of  this  explanation  and  the  sufficiency  of 
this  assurance,  Judge  Ladd  declared  that  Sixto  Lopez 
was  "the  very  man  required  in  the  present  situation," 
and  Messrs.  Dwyer  and  Tirrell  expressed  the  belief  that 
he  could  be  of  great  service  in  securing  peace.  They 
therefore  undertook  to  urge  both  the  civil  and  military 
authorities  to  make  use  of  Sixto  Lopez's  services,  prom- 
ising to  inform  him  by  cable  if  their  mission  proved 
successful. 

In  due  course  the  Diario  de  Filipinas  and  other 
Manila  newspapers  published  an  account  of  how  Messrs. 
Dwyer  and  Tirrell's  mission  had  failed,  stating  that, 
although  Vice  -  Governor  Wright  had  agreed  to  the 
proposal,  General  Chaffee  remained  obdurate  and  would 
not  accept  the  offer  unless  Sixto  Lopez  first  took  the 
oath. 

Juliana  and  her  friends  were  apparently  in  doubt  as  to 
the  bona  fides  of  Messrs.  Dwyer  and  Tirrell,  believing 
that  they  had  made  promises  which  they  had  no  power 
to  fulfill.  This,  however,  was  a  misapprehension,  for 
they  had  simply  undertaken  to  lay  the  matter  before  the 
Manila  authorities,  and  had  neither  given  nor  asked  any 
pledge  as  to  future  action. 


The  third  letter  is  interesting,  yet  in  no  sense  remark- 
able. It  foreshadows  a  change,  an  unconscious  dawning 
in  Juliana's  development. 

**  Something  hath  gleamed  upon  her,  and  the  spell  of  her  child- 
hood is  broken. 
Hardly  she  knows,  as  yet,  whether  to  waken  or  slumber  again." 

She  is  in  doubt  whether  to  assume  the  responsibility 
herself,  or  to  ask  her  elder  sister  to  return.     Yet  she  is 


STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         53 

"  heartsick,"  and  heartsickness  is  the  prelude  to  soul- 
expansion.  She  has,  too,  to  conceal  her  trouble  from 
"  poor  little  mother,"  and  thus  to  assume  the  weight  of 
it  herself. 

Messrs.  Dwyer  and  Tirrell  are  again  referred  to  in 
terms  of  suspicion,  and  even  General  Chaffee  is  regarded 
as  untrustworthy.  Those  who  are  inclined  to  regard  this 
as  unwarranted  suspicion  should  remember  that  the  con- 
ditions in  Manila  were  and  are  such  as  to  provoke 
universal  distrust.  The  Civil  Government  was  unable 
to  protect  those  under  its  own  authority  from  its  all- 
powerful  military  rival.  It  did  indeed  make  laws,  some 
of  which  were  in  violation  of  the  charter  from  which  it 
derived  its  law-making  power,  but  the  military  authorities 
were  complete  masters  of  the  situation ;  were,  in  fact,  a 
law  unto  themselves,  and  defied  the  civil  power.  No 
one  knew  what  would  happen  next  ;  there  was  no 
feeling  of  security,  no  guarantee  of  justice.  Every 
Filipino  was  under  suspicion,  and  in  turn  distrusted 
every  American  ;  the  former  were  regarded  with  con- 
tempt, the  latter  held  themselves  aloof.  No  one  dared 
to  peep,  or  to  breathe  a  word  of  criticism  against  the 
military  authorities.  It  was  the  era  of  the  sycophant 
and  the  informer.  Manila  was  swarming  with  secret 
police,  a  goodly  number  of  whom  were  also  to  be  found 
in  Hong-Kong,  Shanghai,  and  the  southern  ports  of 
Japan.  Who  could  be  certain  that  Messrs.  Dwyer  and 
Tirrell  were  not  of  this  fraternity  ?  Even  General 
Chaffee  was  distrusted,  owing  to  the  treatment  accorded 

to  "  Martin  C ,"a  captured  Filipino  officer  who  had 

been  liberated  on  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  then 
re-arrested  and  imprisoned  for  six  months,  notwithstand- 
ing that  he  had  endeavored,  unsuccessfully  it  is  true,  to 
induce  Malvar  to  surrender.  Such  were  the  condi- 
tions after  three  years  of  American  occupation  of  the 
Islands.] 


54        STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ   FAMILY 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez,  then  at  Hong-Kong.] 

Manila,  December  21,  1901. 

Dearest  Clemen  :  When  you  receive  this  you  will 
already  have  read  mine  of  the  day  before  yesterday,  in 
which  I  told  you  in  detail  about  how  our  poor  brothers  — 
Lorenzo,  Cipriano,  and  Manuel  —  were  taken  prisoners, 
and  of  the  detention  of  the  steamer  in  Batangas,  and  the 
arrest  of  all  the  crew.  We  do  not  yet  know  how  they 
are  treated  in  the  prison  of  "Batangas,  where  they  now 
are,  whether  well  or  ill.  But  I  shall  soon  know,  perhaps 
this  evening  or  to-morrow,  for  the  "Custer"  will  then 
arrive.  I  had  commissioned  a  friend  of  mine  to  find  out 
exactly  all  that  is  happening  in  Balayan  and  Batangas  as 
regards  our  brothers,  and  he  said  he  would  do  so  with 
pleasure.  Mariano  and  I  do  not  cease  working  to  obtain 
their  liberation. 

You  cannot  imagine,  Clemen,  how  heartsick  I  am,  and 
all  the  more  because  I  have  to  conceal  it  before  our  poor 
little  mother,  who  has  a  presentiment  that  some  misfort- 
une has  befallen  us  because  of  the  lateness  of  the 
steamer  ["  Purisima  "].  And  I,  to  persuade  her  that  there 
was  nothing  of  the  sort,  told  her  that  the  reason  was 
because  the  Americans  had  hired  it.  I  do  not  know 
whether  to  advise  you  to  come  or  not.  But  for  the  last 
two  days  I  have  been  running  here  and  there  and  have 
gotten  nothing  but  promises.  I  should  therefore  like 
you  to  come,  for  I  can  do  nothing  alone. 

Yesterday  I  went  twice  to  see  if  General  Chaffee  would 
receive  me,  and  failed.  They  say  that  he  will  deal  with 
nobody ;  and  yet  I  cannot  decide  to  go  to  Batangas,  know- 
ing what  Bell  is,  without  first  obtaining  a  recommenda- 
tion from  Chaffee.  So  I  do  not  know  what  to  do.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Federal  party  have  promised  to  u^ork, 
and  I  do  not  know  whether  they  will  succeed.  We  all  be- 
lieve that  they  have  taken  these  harsh  measures,  imprison- 
ing the  principal  men  in  the  province,  in  order  that  every 
one  may  work  with  energy  for  the  surrender  of  Malvar. 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         55 

Say  to  our  brother,  if  you  have  not  received  my  last 
letter,  that  we  have  read  in  the  papers  of  his  interview 
with  Captain  Dwyer  and  with  a  lawyer  whose  name  I  do 
not  remember  [Mr.  Tirrell].  None  of  our  friends  bcHeve 
that  he  [Dwyer  or  TirrellJ  has  the  right  to  promise  so 
much  ;  therefore  warn  Sixto  not  to  fall  into  the  trap.  I 
should  like  to  send  Sixto  the  clipping,  but  I  do  not  find 
it  at  hand,  and  I  am  sure  that  you  have  received  my  let- 
ter with  the  clipping  where  it  tells  of  his  interview  with 
the  gentleman,  and  that  General  Chaffee  has  refused  to 
allow  him  to  come  unless  he  takes  the  oath.  Even  if  he 
[General  Chaffee]  should  permit  it,  I  do  not  need  to  tell 
you  what  would  happen.     Remember  Martin  C. 

Good-bye,  with  remembrances  from  your  sister  who 
loves  you.  Ninay. 


[A  mistranslation  in  the  following  letter  unfortunately 
led  Mr.  Magoon  into  the  belief  that  the  Lopez  sisters  had 
"  conducted  a  correspondence  with  Sixto  Lopez  of  such 
a  kind  and  character  that  prudence  dictated  the  adop- 
tion of  measures  calculated  to  prevent  knowledge  there- 
of from  coming  to  the  authorities."  The  words  which 
misled  Mr.  Magoon  were  :  "When  you  write,  direct  the 

letter  to ,  so  that  it  may  not  attract  attention." 

The  latter  part  of  the  sentence,  in  italics,  is  a  mistrans- 
lation of  the  original  ^^para  que  no  se  extravien^'  a  correct 
rendering  of  which  would  be  :  "  so  that  it  may  not  go 
astray."  Letters  had  "gone  astray"  in  the  Manila  post- 
office,  and  some  of  those  written  by  the  Lopez  sisters  had 
been  delivered  only  after  a  long  and  inexplicable  delay. 
Thus,  Maria  writes  :  "  We  are  much  troubled  at  your 
saying  that  you  have  received  no  letters  from  us  since  I 
left  there,  for  Ninay  [Juliana]  has  written  to  you  at  least 
five  or  six  times  since  I  arrived  here."  Later,  Juliana 
writes :  "  We  have  finally  found  a  friend  by  whom  to 
send  you  this  letter,  for  I  am  afraid  you  have  not  re- 


56         STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

ceived  my  previous  ones  and  that  they  are  really  lost." 
There  was  undoubtedly  a  desire  to  secure  safe  delivery 
of  the  letters,  and  there  was  also  an  anxiety  on  the  part 
of  Mariano  Lopez  that  nothing  should  be  said  which 
an  over-suspicious  official  might  construe  as  against  the 
government.  This  was  quite  natural ;  similar  anxiety 
would  have  been  felt  by  any  one  else  in  similar  circum- 
stances. But  since  the  letters  written  by  the  Lopez 
family  had  been  voluntarily  placed  in  the  President's 
hands,  it  ought  to  have  been  clear  that  there  had  been 
no  attempt  to  conceal  from  the  authorities  the  "kind  and 
character"  of  the  correspondence.] 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez,  at  Hong-Kong.] 

Manila,  December  26,  1901. 

Dearest  Clemen  :  We  did  not  think  it  best  to  answer 
your  telegram  received  yesterday  morning,  because  of  the 
present  condition  of  our  family.  Up  to  the  present  time 
our  brothers  still  remain  prisoners  in  Batangas,  the 
steamer  is  held  like  all  the  rest  of  the  property,  and, 
what  is  more,  we  do  not  know  to  whom  to  apply  to  free 
either  our  brothers  or  the  property.  Everybody  with 
whom  we  talk  about  this  tells  us  to  have  more  patience 
and  to  proceed  with  calmness,  because  it  is  the  military 
system,  and  the  measure  is  a  general  one.  The  result 
is  that  I  am  in  despair  because  I  can  do  nothing  for  them. 
Through  a  friend  I  have  learned  that  they  are  well  treated 
in  Batangas,  and  that  they  are  not  made  to  work  as  in 
Lipa,  where  all  the  rest,  both  great  and  small,  except  the 
stout  brother  of  your  friend,  and  some  others  whom  I  do 
not  remember,  have  to  work. 

The  steamer  "Purisima"  is  now  an  American  trans- 
port and  serves  the  Government ;  it  does  not  come  to 
Manila,  but  only  makes  trips  in  the  provinces.  We  have 
news,  also,  that  they  have  not  changed  the  crew  of  the 
steamer,  but  they  do  not  let  them  land,  especially  in 
Batangas.     I  have  received  no  letter  from  Balayan  nor 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         57 

from  our  brothers,  so  I  am  not  certain  whether  this  news 
is  true.  I  cannot  write  to  them  for  fear  of  making  their 
situation  worse,  for  you  do  not  know,  Clemen,  how  the 
people  of  Batangas  are  suffering  now,  and  what  they  will 
suffer,  from  hunger.  On  the  other  hand,  I  cannot  write 
to  the  officers  who  are  our  friends  ;  first,  because  all  those 
in  Balayan  are  new  and  I  do  not  know  them,  and  those 
whom  I  do  know  I  am  afraid  of  compromising.  Captain 
Cole  was  removed  from  Balayan  because  he  did  not  wish 
to  take  our  brothers  prisoners,  and  defended  them  in 
every  way.  So  it  was  that  I  could  do  nothing  else  but 
beg  the  favor  from  a  friend,  known  only  recently,  that 
he  should  go  in  person  and  at  least  find  out  how  they 
are ;  and  the  night  before  last  he  came  and  told  me  that 
they  were  well  and  well  treated.*  On  this  account  we 
ought  not  to  be  so  unhappy,  for  there  are  others  more 
unfortunate  than  our  brothers. 

Although  they  say  that  until  Malvar  surrenders  they 
will  not  give  them  liberty,  yet  I  have  great  trust  in  God 
that  they  will  soon  be  set  free,  since  Balayan  is  still 
peaceful  and  quiet.  I  do  not  know  whether  you  will  be 
able  to  understand  this  letter,  for  it  is  like  my  head, 
topsy-turvy.  Arrange  it  so  that  when  you  come  you 
bring  nothing,  absolutely  nothing  with  you,  in  order  to 
avoid  even  unfounded  suspicion.  Mariano  says  that  our 
brother  [Sixto]  ought  not  to  come.  Many  think  that 
this  measure  taken  against  our  brothers  is  on  his  account 
and  his  friends'  who  were  here.    When  you  write,  direct 

the  letter  to ,  so  that  it  may  not  go  astray  [''para 

que  no  se  cxtravien  "].  Mother  does  not  know  it  yet,  but 
suspects,  because  of  the  l^ateness  of  the  boat,  and  I  tell 
her  anything  so  that  she  may  not  be  troubled. 

Good-bye,  with  regards  to  all. 

Your  sister,  Ninay. 


-^ 


*  This  report  was  untrue,  as  is  shown  in  later  letters. 


58         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

[  It  is  the  belief  of  many  persons  in  the  PhiHppines, 
both  native  and  foreign,  that  Mariano  Lopez  is  a  lover 
of  American  sovereignty.  This  belief  receives  no  coun- 
tenance from  the  following  letter,  for  although  Mariano 
had  done  everything  in  his  power  to  secure  peace,  and 
although  he  was  agreeable,  tuidcr  the  cifaimstances,  to  a 
term  of  American  rule,  he  is  anxious  that  Sixto  should 
"work  in  America."  For  what .?  Sixto's  work  in  Amer- 
ica, as  Mariano  well  knew,  has  always  been  and  will 
continue  to  be  for  independence  —  until  it  is  achieved. 
Mariano's  words  are  therefore  significant.  His  attitude 
is  typical  of  that  of  many  other  Filipinos  who  desire 
peace  —  and  independence.  The  desire  for  peace  is  not 
a  negation  of  independence,  nor  does  it  presuppose  a 
wish  for  permanent  American  control] 


[From  Mariano  to  Sixto  Lopez,  at  Hong-Kong.] 

Manila,  December  26,  1901. 
Dear  Sixto:  On  the  nth  instant  the  "Purisima" 
left  here  for  Boac  [Island  of  Marinduque,  under  Civil 
Government]  with  Manuel  on  board,  and  arrived  there 
the  following  day.  On  the  same  day  Manuel  was,  by 
order  of  General  Bell,  arrested  and  transported  to 
Batangas  [under  Military  Government],  in  the  "  Puris- 
ima." On  the  following  day,  i.e.,  the  13th,  still  by 
order  of  this  general,  the  "Purisima"  went  to  Balayan 
with  Captain  Cole  and  Lieutenant  Allen  on  board,  and 
after  having  occupied  our  house  and  confiscated  the 
papers,  title-deeds,  and  keys,  they  arrested  and  took  to 
Batangas  Lorenzo,  Cipriano,  and  Felix  [the  first  Pres- 
idente,  appointed  by  the  United  States  authorities], 
where  they  are  now  held  as  prisoners,  and  the  steamer 
was  converted  into  a  Government  transport.  The  motive 
for  this  is  not  known,  but  it  is  all  the  more  extraordinary 
because  Balayan  is  the  only  pacified  town  in  Batangas, 
and  has  supported  the  Government  since  the  nth  of 
March  of  this  year  until  the  present  date.     To  such  an 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         59 

extent  was  this  true  that  the  Military  Government  allowed 
municipal  elections  there  on  the  29th  of  last  September, 
and  good  feeling  and  friendship  existed  between  the 
Lopez  family  and  the  commanding  and  other  ofificers,  so 
that  almost  all  of  these  officers  often  visited  at  our 
house. 

On  the  loth  instant  the  ports  of  Batangas  and  La 
Laguna  were  closed,  and  to-day  the  term  of  reconcentra- 
tion-notice  ends.  Before  the  close  of  this  period  we  had 
already  received  here,  from  a  trustworthy  source,  awful 
news  from  there,  that  all  the  people  in  the  towns  who 
had  $4  or  upwards  were  apprehended,  and  villages  were 
burned.  Now  that  reconcentration  is  in  full  force,  what 
horrors  will  these  poor  people  not  suffer  ? 

I  will  give  you  some  examples,  not  to  mention  some 
others  which  happened  in  Lipa,  and  which  my  pen  refuses 
to  describe.  AH  the  municipal  officers  and  respectable 
men  were  imprisoned,  and  were  put  to  work  in  the  streets. 
All  the  barrios  were  burned,  and  that  of  Balete  was 
burned  in  the  following  manner  :  the  American  troops 
compelled  the  householders  to  walk  on  foot  from  the  town 
to  the  barrio,  each  one  carrying  a  can  of  petroleum,  and 
when  they  arrived  they  were  each  one  obliged  to  burn 
his  own  country  residence. 

One  day  an  American  soldier  knocked  at  the  door  of 
a  half-sister  of  B.  Solis,  who  sold  rice,  and  demanded 
rice  for  the  horse  of  a  lieutenant.  He  was  answered 
that  at  that  house  rice  was  not  given  away,  but  was  sold. 
The  mistress  of  the  house  complained  to  the  colonel, 
who  promised  to  do  her  justice,  but  after  that  two 
soldiers  appeared,  and  the  woman,  frightened,  yielded, 
allowing  them  to  enter  and  take  away,  out  of  a  large 
basket,  the  rice  which  they  desired.  Later  the  lieutenant 
came  with  soldiers  and  searched  the  house  and  found 
ammunition  in  the  basket  [presumably  placed  there  by 
the  two  soldiers].  For  that  reason  the  masters  of  the 
house  were  taken  prisoners. 

Here  nothing  can  be  done  for  these  unhappy  provinces, 


6o         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

even  to  soften  the  harsh  measures.  The  Government  is 
firm  in  its  decision  that  until  Malvar  surrenders  there 
shall  be  no  change,  and  when  protest  is  made  in  favor  of 
innocent  people  who  are  loyal  to  the  Government,  — 
women,  old  men,  and  children,  —  it  is  replied  that  these 
are  measures  of  war,  and  that  even  in  America  these 
same  measures  were  taken  during  the  civil  war. 

Even  here  in  Manila  no  one  lives  in  safety,  since  the 
belief  prevails  among  the  military  that  all  the  Filipinos  are 
more  or  less  traitors  to  the  Americans.  In  this,  the  civil 
authorities  allow  themselves  to  be  overruled,  although 
it  is  clear  that  the  military  element  desires  a  contin- 
uance of  the  war  and  is,  with  the  assistance  of  the 
American  press  here,  doing  everything  possible  to  have 
all  the  islands  returned  to  its  control,  as  you  may  have 
already  noticed.  Therefore,  taking  note  of  all  that  I 
have  said,  I  beg  you  to  work  in  America ;  but  I  hope 
that  you  will  do  so  with  great  prudence,  and  in  such  a 
manner  as  will  not  in  any  way  make  worse  the  situation 
of  your  unfortunate  and  destitute  brothers  and  sisters 
here.  You  will  pardon  me  for  telling  you  not  to  come 
now,  with  or  without  taking  the  oath,  if  you  do  not  wish 
to  make  worse  both  their  situation  and  your  own  as 
regards  the  Government,  without  helping  matters.  For 
the  same  reason  do  not  write  to  them  except  by  sure  and 
certain  messenger. 

Good-bye.  Mariano. 

[It  has  been  said  that  soldiers  are  bad  logicians.  Per- 
haps this  is  because  the  sword  has  no  major  premise, 
and  always  reaches  the  same  conclusion  !  The  following 
letter  contains  a  specimen  of  martial  logic  which  may 
yet  find  a  place  in  a  military  edition  of  "Alice  in  Won- 
derland." Captain  Taggart  is  (or  was  !)  a  friend  of  the 
Lopez  family,  having  known  them  in  Balayan,  where  for 
a  time  he  held  command.  Doubtless  he  was  only  ex- 
pressing a  general  belief  when    he    declared  that  the 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         6i 

imprisonment  of  the  three  brothers  was  on  account  of 
Sixto ;  but  his  solution  of  the  difficulty,  as  regards  the 
confiscated  property,  is  probably  his  own  :  Divide  the 
family  property,  he  says,  and  then  the  only  part  that 
would  remain  in  the  hands  of  the  military  would  be  Sixto's 
share. 

Now,  if  division  or  separation  of  the  property  would ^ 
thus  secure  immunity  from  confiscation,  why  were  the 
brothers  imprisoned  ?  Were  they  not  already  as  sepa- 
rate from  Sixto  as  Sixto's  property  would  be  from  theirs 
after  the  division  ?  Where  is  the  major  premise  ?  But 
wait.  The  soldier  is  usually  credited  with  an  imperfect 
idea  of  the  meaning  and  application  of  scripture.  Ap- 
parently Captain  Taggart  and  others  have  concluded  that 
Lorenzo  and  Cipriano  and  Manuel  were  their  "  brother's 
keeper^'  using  the  latter  word  in  a  financial  sense.  Per- 
haps this  is  the  reason  why  Mariano  escaped,  for  he  is 
only  a  half-brother  to  Sixto,  and  the  scriptures  are  silent 
about  half-brothers  !  But  then,  what  about  Lorenzo, 
who  also  is  only  a  half-brother  to  Sixto .-' 

Well,  everybody  loves  the  soldier  —  loves  him  as  the 
typical  embodiment  of  bravery  and  strength,  and  for  his 
keen  sense  of  honor,  and  his  boyish  good-nature  —  when 
he  isn't  fighting ;  but  not  for  his  powers  as  a  logician  or 
a  theologian !] 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez,  at  Hong-Kong.] 

Manila,  December  28,  1901. 
Dearest  Clemen  :  Two  weeks  have  passed  since  you 
went  away,  and  yet  I  have  not  received  any  letter  from 
you  up  to  the  present  time,  and  you  cannot  imagine  how 
impatient  I  am  to  receive  one,  because  in  the  situation 
in  which  our  family  at  present  finds  itself  I  ought  to 
know  your  decision,  and  also  what  I  ought  to  do  on  my 
part.  I  have  done  everything  and  have  got  nothing  but 
promises,  and  some  tell  me  that  when  the  war  is  ended 
every  one  will  be  set  at  liberty  ;  from  this  you  can  judge 


62         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

whether  I  can  do  anything  more,  I  have  been  able  to 
do  almost  nothing  for  their  welfare,  except  to  beg  recom- 
mendations from  the  friends  of  Bell  that  he  should  treat 
our  poor  brothers  with  consideration. 

Yesterday  I  saw  Captain  Taggart,  who  has  just  come, 
and  he  told  me,  among  other  things,  that  the  imprison- 
ment of  our  brothers  was  on  account  of  Sixto  (whom 
our  brothers  pecuniarily  support),  he  being  a  great  enemy 
of  the  American  Government,  who  will  not  come  to  the 
Philippines  and  swear  allegiance,  which  would  be  the 
only  way  to  settle  the  matter.  I  answered  him  that  they 
were  mistaken  in  thinking  this  [i.  e.,  that  Sixto  was  an 
enemy  of  the  American  Government],  and  that  even  if 
that  were  the  case,  if  they  believe  him  guilty,  as  they 
say,  he  is  the  only  person  who  ought  to  be  involved  in  this 
affair,  for  he  acts  according  to  his  own  judgment  and 
does  as  he  thinks  best.  Finally  he  advised  me  that  the 
only  way  in  which  the  Government  could  return  to  us 
the  confiscated  property  would  be  for  us  to  divide  it  up, 
and  in  that  way  we  could  have  ours,  and  the  only  part 
which  would  remain  in  the  hands  of  the  Government 
would  be  that  belonging  to  Sixto.   .  .  . 

Yesterday,  I  learned  that  you  had  sent  some  letters 
by  one  who,  fearing  that  they  would  compromise  him, 
tore  them  up,  believing  them  to  be  something  else.  In- 
deed, it  is  not  surprising,  so  many  incredible  and  horrible 
things  have  happened.  They  say  that  they  will  devas- 
tate all  Batangas  if  it  is  not  pacified  at  once.  All  remain 
prisoners,  and  the  number  increases.  Even  priests  and 
curates  are  suspected.  That  is  why,  in  view  of  all  these 
things,  I  prefer  almost  anything  rather  than  to  see  so 
many  die  of  hunger  —  so  many  people  entirely  ignorant 
of  what  is  called  politics.  When  I  complain  of  this  in- 
humanity, they  only  reply  that  "  such  is  war,"  and  explain 
by  this  same  answer  all  their  inhuman  actions.  I  am 
much  distressed  to  see  mother  so  afifiicted  by  the  lateness 
of  Manuel,  and  if  she  knew  the  truth  of  what  has  hap- 
pened to  Lorenzo  and  Cipriano  also  I  do  not  know  what 


STORY    OF    THK    LOPEZ    FAMILY         63 

would  become  of  her.  For  my  part,  I  wish  you  would 
return,  considering  the  sad  condition  in  which  we  are ; 
and  I  have  to  think  of  Pepe  [Jose,  the  brother  in 
England]. 

Good-bye.  Regards  to  everybody,  and  remember  that 
you  are  not  forgotten.  Ninay. 

-») 

[  The  following  letter  contains  Mariano's  proposal  that 
Sixto  should  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  in  order  to  secure 
the  release  of  the  three  brothers,  —  a  proposal  which,  it 
is  believed,  did  not  originate  with  Mariano.  Few  persons 
will  question  the  propriety  of  taking  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  United  States  if  the  oath  is  taken  voluntarily  and 
in  sincerity,  and  presumably  Mariano  never  intended  that 
Sixto  should  take  it  against  his  inclination  or  in  violation 
of  conscience.  But  to  take  any  oath  simply  as  a  matter 
of  expediency,  or  in  bargain  for  the  mitigation  of  an 
injustice,  is  an  act  to  which  no  honorable  man  ought  to 
consent. 

Sixto's  reply  —  which  here  follows  Mariano's  letter  — 
shows  the  position  he  has  maintained  ever  since  his  first 
association  with  Rizal.  His  attitude  toward  the  American 
authorities  is  the  same  as  was  his  attitude  toward  Spain. 
Apparently  he  could  have  become  persona  grata  to  both 
by  assuming  the  role  of  a  hypocrite.  It  was  ever  thus ; 
there  is  no  room  for  an  honest  man  in  any  system  of 
wrong.  It  is  Benedict  Arnold  that  is  welcomed  by 
England,  and  Buencamino  by  the  Civil  Government  at 
'  Manila.  A  man  is  known  by  the  company  he  keeps  ;  a 
policy  by  those  whom  it  attracts.] 


[  From  Mariano  to  Clemencia  Lopez,  at  Hong-Kong.] 

Manila,  December  28,  190 1. 
Dearest  Clemen  :    I  write  to  tell  you  that  our  poor 
brothers,  Lorenzo,  Cipriano,  and  Manuel,  are  still  prison- 
ers, and  our  steamer  and  possessions  confiscated,  and  I  find 


64         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

myself  now  powerless  and  unable  to  remedy  matters, 
since  all  my  efforts  up  to  the  present  time  have  been 
useless,  and  I  can  think  of  no  other  effective  remedy  but 
the  following:  I  believe  that  if  Sixto  should  offer  to 
recognize  the  Government,  swearing  allegiance  to  its 
sovereignty  in  these  islands,  on  condition  that  our 
brothers  should  be  set  at  liberty  and  our  steamer  and 
goods  returned  to  us,  his  offer  would  be  accepted. 

In  Sixto's  hands,  then,  lies  the  remedy  for  our  troubles 
and  total  ruin,  and  he  must  choose  one  of  two  things : 
Either  to  sacrifice  himself,  renouncing  his  desire  to  set 
free  his  country  at  the  cost  of  his  life  and  put  in  its 
place  brotherly  affection  to  save  us,  or,  shutting  his  eyes 
to  all  this,  to  remain  sternly  faithful  to  his  aims,  sublime 
and  heroic  it  is  true,  but  leaving  us  all  to  die,  some  in 
captivity  and  the  others  destitute.  And  Sixto  must  not 
think  that  if  he  should  come  and  offer  to  suffer  every- 
thing in  place  of  his  brothers  the  Government  would  be 
willing  and  would  remedy  our  situation.  Of  this,  at 
least,  he  must  not  think,  for  they  might  lay  hands  on 
him  also  if  he  persists  in  not  taking  the  oath  when  he 
comes.  Our  mother  begs  me  earnestly  to  tell  you  to 
come  back  by  the  first  boat,  and  to  beg  our  friends  to 
write  us  nothing  about  politics  if  they  do  not  wish  to 
make  our  condition  worse. 

Your  brother,  Mariano  Lopez. 


[From  Sixto  to  Mariano  Lopez.]  '" 

January  I,  1902. 
Dear  Mariano  :  While  I  admire  the  spirit  that  has 
prompted  you  in  proposing  [in  your  letter  to  Clemencia] 
that  I  should  make  a  great  sacrifice  in  order  to  secure 
the  release  of  our  brothers,  I  cannot  do  what  you  sug- 
gest. I  believe  it  to  be  my  duty  to  make  sacrifices  for 
our  country  and  for  those  who  are  near  and  dear  to  us, 
but  I  can  never  agree  that  it  is  right  to  sacrifice  principle 


View    of  part    ok  Majsila,    shovx- 


View    of   the    Luneta,    Manila,    v 

[&   note  in   li. 


SiiiriMNc;  ON     rill':    I<i\i:k    I'ask; 


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K    RiZAi.    ^\.\s    i:\i  c  I  i  i  n    in     iSy6 
i//ustrations] 


STORY    OF    THK    LOPEZ    FAMILY         6c 

or  to  yield  to  suffering  when  we  are  in  the  right.  You 
know  as  well  as  I  do  that  Lorenzo  and  Manuel,  and 
Cipriano  since  his  surrender,  hav^e  done  nothing  to  aid  or 
incite  the  Filipinos  under  arms,  and  that  they  have  done 
nothing  in  opposition  to  American  authority.  Conse- 
quently their  imprisonment  is  neither  legally  nor  morally 
justifiable.  Therefore  to  make  any  sacrifices  in  return 
for  their  release  would  be  simply  reviving  the  old  system 
of  bribery  which  held  sway  under  Spanish  rule,  and 
would  practically  amount  to  yielding  to  blackmail.  This 
we,  of  all  people,  must  not  countenance.  If  we  cannot 
get  justice  for  our  brothers  and  our  property,  then  we 
must  suffer,  and  that  suffering  is  the  only  sacrifice  which 
it  is  proper  for  us  to  make. 

We  should  remember  that  our  fellow-countrymen  have 
suffered  and  are  suffering  for  the  sake  of  right.  Even 
the  poorest  and  least  educated  have  been  prepared  to 
sacrifice  their  life  for  what  they  believe  to  be  the  benefit 
of  their  country.  Shall  we,  then,  who  have  been  blessed 
with  some  degree  of  wealth  and  education,  shall  we 
flinch  and  yield  at  the  first  stroke  of  calamity  ^  For 
myself  I  answer,  "Never."  I  am  prepared  to  sacrifice 
my  property  and  my  life  for  the  good  of  my  country 
or  for  the  benefit  of  our  family,  but  the  sacrifice  which 
you  suggest  I  will  never,  never  consent  to  make.  The 
American  authorities  may  inflict  punishment  on  our 
family  that  may  break  my  heart  or  my  life,  but  they 
will  never  be  able  to  break  my  principle  as  long  as  God 
Almighty  remains  on  the  side  of  what  is  right. 

But  the  two  courses  which  you  mention  in  your  letter 
are  not  the  only  alternatives.  There  is  another  course 
which  I  believe  will  secure  justice  and  the  release  of  our 
brothers.  It  may  not  bring  relief  as  soon  as  the  one 
you  suggest,  but  it  will  be  more  effective  and  permanent 
in  its  results.  It  involves  no  sacrifice  of  principle  and 
no  violation  of  right.  It  would  be  improper  at  this  stage 
to  give  you  the  details,  but  I  intend  to  pursue  it,  and  we 
shall  see  whether  it  will  prove  a  success. 


66         STORY   OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

Fortunately,  if  I  can  obtain  no  help  for  my  family,  I 
shall  still  be  able  to  carry  on  the  work,  for  every  injus- 
tice inflicted  on  us  will  only  bring  more  aid  and  sympathy 
to  our  people.  Wrong  will  always  turn  upon  the  wrong- 
doer, and  will  finally  benefit  those  who  are  wronged.  It 
is  therefore  for  us  to  do  what  is  right  and  suffer  patiently 
any  temporary  wrong,  knowing  that  right  will  ultimately 
triumph. 

But  let  me  make  my  own  position  clear.  I  am  en- 
tirely in  favor  of  a  cessation  of  all  armed  resistance  to 
American  authority.  I  have  always  believed,  with  you, 
that  the  war  was  not  necessarily  to  our  people's  inter- 
ests, and  I  am  of  the  same  opinion  still.  I  am  therefore 
willing  to  do  whatever  lies  in  my  power  to  bring  about 
peace.  But  I  utterly  despise  the  policy  which  inflicts 
punishment  upon  neutral  non-combatants  in  order  to 
secure  the  surrender  of  those  in  arms.  Neither  morality 
nor  the  rules  of  war  sanction  such  a  policy.  To  my 
mind  it  is  an  unutterably  mean  and  cruel  method  of 
securing  victory.  It  is  unworthy  of  an  American  sol- 
dier and  a  blot  upon  the  escutcheon  of  the  nation  that 
went  to  war  to  put  an  end  to  the  methods  of  General 
Weyler.  And  although  under  other  circumstances  I 
should  counsel  surrender  by  Malvar  and  his  forces,  I 
cannot  urge  him  to  surrender  in  response  to  siicJi  methods 
of  warfare. 

Better  a  thousand  times  for  us  all  to  suffer,  knowing 
that  the  more  we  are  made  to  suffer  the  sooner  will  come 
our  final  relief.  Injustice  and  wrong  will  no  more  bring 
victory  to  America  than  to  General  Weyler.  We  should 
remember  that  there  is  One  who  is  more  powerful  than 
money  and  guns,  and  that  One  is  on  our  side.  We  may 
have  to  suffer,  for  we  cannot  claim  that  we  are  immacu- 
late, but  the  great  balance  of  right  is  on  our  side,  and 
that  ought  to  satisfy  us  and  give  us  the  assurance  of 
ultimate  triumph. 

You  will,  ere  this,  have  received  my  letter  telling  of 
Clemencia's    departure    for   America,   and    the  reasons 


STORY    OK    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         67 

which  moved  us  all  to  adopt  this  course.  Your  and 
Juliana's  letters  only  served  to  confirm  me  in  the  belief 
that  we  have  adopted  the  proper  course.  If  necessary, 
Clemencia  can  return  within  three  or  four  months, 
Mariquita  is  happy  and  contented,  and  for  the  present, 
or  until  I  leave  Hong-Kong,  I  should  recommend  her 
to  remain.  But  of  course  she  will  do  whatever  mother 
advises. 

Ever  your  affectionate  brother,  Sixto. 


[It  is  difficult  to  discover,  in  the  foregoing  letter,  any- 
thing in  the  form  of  a  threat  to  the  United  States.  Yet 
the  following  words  have  been  so  construed  by  what 
must  surely  be  a  forced  interpretation  :  "  Although  under 
other  circumstances  I  should  counsel  surrender  by 
Malvar  and  his  forces,  I  cannot  urge  him  to  surrender 
in  response  to  such  methods  of  warfare!'  In  the  same 
paragraph  from  which  these  words  are  quoted  Sixto 
Lopez  says  :  "  I  am  entirely  in  favor  of  a  cessation  of  all 
armed  resistance  to  American  authority,  ...  I  am  there- 
fore willing  to  do  whatever  lies  in  my  power  to  bring 
about  peace."  From  this  it  is  abundantly  clear  that  the 
supposed  "threat"  is  simply  an  independent  statement 
that  although  Sixto  Lopez  is  in  favor  of  peace  he  would 
not  counsel  surrender  "  in  response  "  to  certain  methods 
of  warfare.  But  anything  in  the  form  of  independence 
of  mind  on  the  part  of  those  of  dark  complexion  is  nat- 
urally construed  as  a  "threat"  by  the  Great  White 
Anglo-Saxon  1 

In  commenting  on  the  paragraph  referred  to,  Mr, 
Magoon  says  :  "  Sixto  Lopez,  however,  insists  that  a  bel- 
ligerant  commander  is  without  authority  to  punish  or  even 
prevent  any  and  every  effort  to  cause  the  miscarriage  of 
the  military  operations  of  the  United  States,  excepting  the 
acts  of  those  persons  who  are  encountered  with  arms  in 
their  hands,  and  insists  that  a  person  who  asserts  that  he 
is  a  '  non-combatant '  is  by  such  assertion  placed  outside 


68         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

the  jurisdiction  of  the  military  authority."  *  This  might 
well  go  down  in  history  as  another  of  the  "  Curiosities  of 
Literature," — if,  indeed,  it  were  literary,  —  for  it  would 
be  hard  to  find,  anywhere  in  the  English  language, 
a  grosser  misrepresentation  of  an  opponent's  words. 
Where  does  Sixto  Lopez  "  insist "  on  any  of  these  ab- 
surdities ?  It  will  be  noted  that  the  only  item  quoted 
from  Sixto  Lopez's  letter  is  the  word  "non-combatant  "; 
the  context  attributed  to  him  is  pure  imagination.  It  is 
bad  enough  to  misrepresent,  but  to  attribute  foolish 
things  to  an  opponent  is  almost  unpardonable.  Why 
should  any  such  course  be  adopted  ?  A  good  cause  and 
a  good  case  do  not  require  the  aid  of  misconstruction  or 
misrepresentation. 


In  the  following  letter,  Mariano  briefly  replies  to  Sixto's 
rejoinder  in  a  manner  creditable  alike  to  his  patriotism  and 
to  his  ability  as  a  student  of  history. 

The  remainder  of  his  letter  is  devoted  chiefly  to  Man- 
uel Ramirez,  who  figures  in  this  history,  and  of  whom, 
more  anon.] 

[From  Mariano  to  Sixto  Lopez.] 

Manila,  January  8,  1902. 
Dear  Sixto  :  I  have  received  your  letter  through 
Mariquita,  who  came  yesterday,  very  weak,  owing  to  sea- 
sickness during  the  voyage.  In  answering  it  I  will  only 
say  that,  considering  the  atmosphere  in  which  you  live, 
alone,  and  called  to  be  almost  a  martyr  for  your  country, 
it  seems  to  me  excellent  and  not  to  be  improved.  But 
as  for  me  and  millions  of  our  compatriots  in  the  sur- 
roundings in  which  we  live,  considering  the  circumstances 
and  our  respective  families,  for  whom  we  must  have  very 


*  Mr.  Magoon,  in  the  Report  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  the  Philip- 
pines, p.  2605. 


STORY    OF    THK    LOPEZ    FAMILY         69 

special  regard,  we  cannot  follow  you  on  the  patriotic  road 
which  you  have  laid  out.  But  we  do  not  on  that  account 
consider  ourselves  any  less  patriotic  than  you  are ;  for  if 
history  holds  up  to  you  examples  of  heroism,  even  to 
the  point  of  sacrificing  one's  life  for  one's  country,  it 
gives  us,  on  the  other  hand,  examples  of  even  great 
nations  who  have  yielded  to  the  superior  force  of  the 
enemy,  preferring  to  submit  to  the  conqueror  rather 
than  to  continue  the  struggle  at  the  price  of  total  exter- 
mination. I  admire  and  respect  your  views  and  convic- 
tions ;  but  try  not  to  compromise  any  more  of  us  who 
are  here  if  you  do  not  wish  to  force  your  brothers  to 
follow  in  your  path. 

Our  three  brothers,  with  Felix  Unzon,  are  in  the  Bay 
[of  Manila],  on  the  transport  "  Liscum,"  to  be  deported, 
although  it  is  not  yet  known  where.  A  military  com- 
*.mission  has  been  to  inspect  the  island  of  Tahm,  La 
Laguna,  and  some  people  think  that  perhaps  it  will  be 
that  island.  I  was  able  to  talk  with  them,  and  they  tell 
me  that  they  have  been  embarked  without  any  formal 
writ  or  notification  as  to  the  reasons,  and  if  they  know 
anything  about  it  it  is  because  a  messenger  from  the 
officer  who  keeps  the  record  of  the  prisoners  has  told 
them  that  in  those  records  there  is  no  accusation  against 
our  brothers  except  that  of  being  suspected  of  main- 
taining the  insurrection,  and  he  has  offered  to  endeavor 
to  liberate  them,  saying  that  for  a  small  sum  of  money 
he  could  accomplish  it.  Our  brothers  refused  this  offer 
because  of  their  self-respect  and  innocence.  Several 
obtained  liberty  in  Batangas  in  this  way,  and  it  is  known 
of  Mariano  Ramos,  the  son  of  Juan  Ramos,  that  he  was 
freed  through  the  influence  of  the  present  favorite  of 
the  Americans,  Manuel  Ramirez. 

Let  us  talk  of  the  latter.  Li  case  you  do  not  remember 
his  past,  I  will  put  it  down  for  you  now.  You  know  that 
Ramirez  started  as  an  office-boy  and  clerk  of  the  deceased 
Don  Manuel  Araulio.  When  the  latter  died,  Ramirez 
continued  in  the  employ  of  his  son,  Don  Agustin,  now  also 


70         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

deceased,  who,  through  his  wealth  and  influence,  made 
Ramirez  chief  of  the  town  of  Balayan.  Having  once 
risen,  he  showed  himself  to  be  capable  of  anything,  since 
he  soon  made  himself  a  landholder  at  the  expense  of  the 
town  and  of  his  master,  who  died  poor.  From  that  time 
he  and  the  curate  (friar)  of  the  town  were  in  league. 
Several  years  passed  in  this  way,  until  Don  Caspar  Cas- 
tano,  then  governor  of  the  province,  tired  of  this  state 
of  affairs,  held  an  investigation  as  to  who  was  responsible 
for  these  intrigues,  in  order  to  make  a  radical  reform.  It 
was  then  discovered  that  Manuel  Ramirez  was  the  author 
of  them  all,  and  he  was  accordingly  deported  to  Mindoro. 
There,  instead  of  amending,  he  became  worse,  for  in  a 
few  years  he  dominated  the  courts  and  the  officials,  and 
all  these  also  were  continually  intriguing,  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  governor  and  the  priest  (friar)  were  con- 
tinually hostile  to  one  another  and  involved  in  lawsuits.  -. 
The  Spanish  Government,  wishing  to  put  an  end  to 
this  state  of  things  in  that  island,  selected  Don  Rafael 
Morales  and  sent  him  there  as  governor,  and  he  quickly 
perceived  that  the  disturber  was  Manuel  Ramirez,  who 
was  warned  not  again  to  trample  under  foot  either  the 
courts  or  the  Government,  to  stop  all  plots,  and  to  re- 
frain from  any  remonstrance  in  those  provinces,  under 
pain  of  being  deported  to  a  distant  island.  In  the  year 
1898,  when  the  island  of  Mindoro  was  taken  by  the 
Philippine  forces,  Ramirez  was  one  of  those  singled  out 
by  the  popular  wrath  and  arrested.  But  the  officer  in 
command  of  the  forces  was  governed  by  the  desire  to 
pardon  bad  Filipinos  and  to  attract  them  to  the  right 
course ;  and  so,  taking  advantage  of  the  popular  delirium 
of  joy  after  the  triumph  over  the  Spaniards,  he  gave  him 
and  others  their  freedom.  As  soon  as  Ramirez  found 
himself  free,  fearful  lest  the  townspeople,  once  their 
enthusiasm  had  passed,  should  kill  him,  he  escaped  to 
Batangas  and  went  from  there  to  his  old  home  in  Balayan. 
Here  he  transformed  himself  into  an  ardent  patriot, 
assisted  the  presidente  as  town  secretary,  and  provided  all 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         71 

supplies  for  his  brother-in-law,  the  great  robber  Estaban 
Causapin,  who  also  pretended  to  be  a  great  patriot,  and 
raised  troops.  Later  Mr.  Taggart,  major  of  the  Twenty- 
eighth  Volunteers,  stationed  in  Balayan,  ascertained 
that  he  was  responsible  for  robberies  and  assaults  in 
Nasugbu  and  Lian.  (This  Causapin  also  now  enjoys 
the  confidence  of  the  Americans,  for  he  is  one  of  their 
spies.) 

In  October,  1900,  when  the  Thirty-ninth  Volunteers 
came  to  relieve  the  Twenty-eighth  Regiment,  the  troops 
then  stationed  at  Balayan,  the  commanding  officer  of  the 
former,  Mr.  Langhorne,  was  arrested  by  the  command- 
ing officer  of  the  latter,  Mr.  Taggart,  before  passing  over 
the  command.*  Already,  in  the  time  of  Major  Taggart, 
Ramirez  had  secretly  denounced  many  people.  Major 
Taggart,  who  does  nothing  except  in  accordance  with 
his  favorite  phrase,  "evidence,"  and  who  is  keenly  observ- 
ant, saw  through  Ramirez  immediately,  and  found  no  dif- 
ficulty in  comprehending  that  he  is  a  man  who,  although 
intelligent,  is  to  be  feared  because  of  his  evil  disposition. 
As  I  told  you  before,  the  unfriendliness  between  Mr. 
Taggart  and  Mr.  Langhorne  was  well  improved  by 
Ramirez,  who  from  that  time  not  only  acquired  influence 
over  the  latter  but  also  over  all  his  officers,  although  the 
said  Mr.  Langhorne  was  a  friend  and  continual  visitor 
at  our  house,  so  that,  thanks  to  him,  Ramirez  could  not 
then  do  us  harm.  After  the  forces  of  Commander 
Langhorne  had  been  quartered  a  few  months  in  Balayan, 
the  following  incident  occurred  in  the  house  of  Nicolas 
Ramos : 

As  he  [Ramos]  and  his  family  were  in  the  habit  of 
selling  liquors  [clandestinely],  there  came  to  their  house 
one  night  some  drunken  soldiers  of  the  neighborhood  to 
buy  wine,  and,  as  it  was  refused  them  and  they  demanded 


*The  command  was  passed  over  to  Captain  Taylor,  who  retained  it 
until  Major  Langhorne  was  released  after  about  one  month's  imprison- 
ment, decreed  from  headquarters  in  Manila. 


72         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

it  resolutely,  they  came  to  blows.  There  was  confusion, 
since  some  cried  out  that  they  were  being  assaulted  by 
robbers,  and  others  fought  desperately  until  an  officer 
came  and  put  a  stop  to  it  and  brought  them  all  before 
the  chief.  Once  before  Colonel  Bullard,  at  that  time  in 
command,  those  who  had  been  assaulted  insisted  that  the 
intention  was  to  rob  them,  and  they  even  declared  that 
money  and  jewels  had  been  taken  from  them.  One  of 
the  assailants  is  a  cousin  of  one  of  the  officers,  and  cer- 
tainly found  out  the  truth,  for  the  following  night  that 
officer  with  some  soldiers  went  to  arrest  Geronimo  Ramos, 
the  son  of  Nicolas,  who,  when  he  saw  them  coming, 
began  to  run,  and  the  officer  pursued  him  with  a  revolver 
and  wounded  him  in  the  hand  ;  but  so  great  was  the  ter- 
ror of  Geronimo  that  he  did  not  stop  until  he  could  hide 
himself  in  the  house  of  Juan  Garcia.  It  is  known  that 
this  officer  when  he  overtook  and  captured  him  took  a 
more  pacific  course,  for  he  agreed  to  bring  him  before  the 
chief,  Colonel  Bullard,  and  there,  through  the  prayers  of 
the  Ramos  family,  the  matter  was  dropped.  This  family 
began  to  make  presents  to  the  chiefs  and  officers,  while 
secretly  Mario,  a  brother  of  Nicolas,  became  once  more, 
with  all  his  family,  good  patriots,  forming  committees 
for  contributions  to  the  Philippine  forces.  Lorenzo  and 
I,  when  all  this  happened,  were  here  in  Manila  and  were 
ignorant  of  it  all.  Ramirez  who  had  been  informed  by 
his  brother-in-law,  Causapin,  and  his  brother,  Hilarion, 
of  this  contribution  denounced  all  those  who  did  not  bow 
the  head  to  him,  and  they  were  imprisoned,  and  were 
only  set  at  liberty  when  our  brother  Cipriano  surrendered 
with  all  his  forces,  March  ii,  1901. 

From  that  time  until  the  present  there  has  not  been  a 
single  combat  or  uprising  in  all  the  territory  of  Balayan, 
proving  that  the  town  is  not  only  peaceful  and  submis- 
sive to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  but  that 
it  is  completely  separated  from  the  insurrection  which 
still  exists  in  other  towns.  On  this  basis  I  solicited  and 
obtained  from  the  military  government  municipal  elections 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         73 

in  the  town  on  the  29th  of  September,  and  at  those  elec- 
tions Ramirez  was  defeated,  he  being  the  candidate  sup- 
ported by  the  mihtary,  and  especially  by  Captain  Cheever 
of  the  Sixth  Cavalry,  commander  of  Balayan,  and  by  the 
Ramos  family,  who  became  partisans  of  Ramirez  through 
fear  of  him,  since  they  had  carried  off  and  sold  animals 
belonging  to  the  friars  in  Balayan.  Ramirez  made  an 
accusation  against  us,  and  he  and  his  friends  began  to 
threaten  our  family. 

I  protested  in  writing  to  the  then  chief  of  the  De- 
partment of  the  South,  General  Wade,  and  to  General 
Chaffee,  whose  adjutant  assured  me  that  no  harm  should 
come  to  us  through  the  denunciation  of  Ramirez. 

In  a  few  days  some  people  from  Balayan  told  us  that 
Ramirez  was  going  about  spreading  the  report  that 
General  Chaffee  had  refused  to  see  me,  and  that  very 
soon  the  Lopez  family  would  fall,  as  his  friend  Cheever 
had  assured  him  of  this,  who,  it  is  said,  piqued  because 
his  candidate  was  not  elected,  would  take  every  means 
to  ruin  us.  The  rigorous  exactitude  with  which  the 
threat  against  us  has  been  fulfilled  leaves  no  room  for 
doubt  that  it  was  they  who  ruined  us,  finding  in  the 
higher  military  authorities  echo  of  their  desires  for  venge- 
ance against  us,  since  these  latter  imagine  that  all  the 
Filipinos  are  more  or  less  guilty  of  sympathizing  with 
the  continuation  of  the  war.  Now,  I  have  given  you  all 
the  facts  about  my  services  and  those  of  my  family  to  the 
Government,  which  will  fairly  justify  the  statement  that 
we  are  simply  the  victims  of  the  revenge  and  baseness 
of  Ramirez.  All  the  commanding  and  other  officers  who 
were  and  still  are  at  Balayan,  and  who  visited  at  our 
house  and  were  our  friends,  will  bear  witness  to  this. 

I  have  wished  to  give  you  a  complete  picture  of 
Ramirez,  for  I  had  a  notion  of  attacking  him  through  the 
governmental  press  here,  .  .  .  but  friends  tell  me  that 
it  will  be  better  to  do  it  in  America. 

General  Bell  was  sent  to  Batangas  by  his  superiors 
with  absolutely  unlimited  power,  and  as  he  is  naturally 


74         STORY   OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

of  a  very  violent  temper,  and  incited  by  his  friends  the 
friars,  and  Spaniards,  you  can  imagine  what  sort  of 
barbarities  will  take  place  there.  Poor  Cipriano  sur- 
rendered with  all  his  forces,  trusting  in  the  honor  of  the 
American  representatives  in  the  Philippines.  He  has 
given  absolutely  no  cause  for  suspicion ;  Balayan  was 
absolutely  peaceful,  pacified,  and  submissive  to  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  after  his  surrender ;  he 
was  chosen  electoral  judge  in  the  municipal  elections  of 
the  29th  of  last  September  and  named  councilor  by 
popular  vote,  defeating  Ramirez.  Do  you  suppose  this 
adversary  of  ours  would  have  kept  silent  if  there  had 
been  any  fault  which  would  have  disqualified  him  for 
these  positions  ? 

Moreover,  Cipriano's  arrest  on  the  1 3th  of  last  Decem- 
ber happened  in  the  following  way :  That  evening  he 
was  going  on  horseback  with  Lieutenant  Raymond,  of 
the  Sixth  Cavalry,  to  look  over  and  mark  out  territory 
within  which  the  reconcentrados  would  have  to  remain, 
and  when  they  returned  to  the  town  and  were  opposite 
the  barracks,  another  officer  appeared  and  arrested  him 
by  order  of  General  Bell.  .  .  . 

Now,  the  American  friends  who  helped  us  as  far  as 
they  could  are  the  chief  of  police.  Captain  Curry,  and 
Lieutenant  Pendleton,  who  was  the  captain  of  the  port  of 
Balayan.  The  former  went  with  me  to  General  Chaffee, 
whom  we  could  not  see,  but  we  saw  the  inspector-general, 
who,  after  listening  to  me  with  benevolence,  advised  me  to 
see  the  adjutant-general  of  the  north.  Colonel  Wagner. 
I  could  not  see  him,  but  Adjutant -General  Wheaton 
received  me  and  agreed  to  present  a  memorandum  of  my 
services  to  the  Government. 

Take  care  in  writing  to  us,  now  that  you  know  how 
closely  watched  we  are.  Mariano. 


STORY   OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY        75 


[When  Manuel  Ramirez  was  defeated  in  the  election 
for  Presidente  of  the  town  of  Balayan,  which  position  he 
had  previously  held  by  appointment  of  the  American 
military  commander,  he  was  angry  beyond  all  reason. 
He  might  have  comforted  himself  with  the  reflection 
that  he  was  not  the  first  or  the  only  candidate  in  this 
world  that  had  suffered  defeat  at  the  polls.  But  instead 
of  thus  taking  his  defeat  quietly  and  with  dignity,  he 
needs  must  harbor  deep-seated  ill  will  toward  his  oppo- 
nents, and  especially  toward  the  Lopez  family,  upon 
whom  he  vowed  all  kinds  of  vengeance.  Such  vows 
would  have  been  futile  had  it  not  been  that  he  was  the 
nominee  of  Captain  Cheever,  who  felt  that  his  own  dig- 
nity had  suffered  owing  to  the  refusal  of  the  people  of 
Balayan  to  confirm  his  ill-bestowed  choice.  For  this  and 
other  reasons  Manuel  Ramirez  was  given  authority,  under 
the  military  commander,  before  which  the  power  of  the 
elected  presidente  was  insignificant  and  wholly  inoperative. 
The  smaller  the  Tsar  the  greater  the  tyrant,  and  so,  the 
manner  in  which  Ramirez  abused  his  authority  may  yet 
be  a  matter  of  investigation. 

Among  his  several  attentions  to  the  Lopez  family  was 
the  following  letter  "  To  the  Honorable  Committee  in 
Batangas."  It  is  doubtful  whether  this  letter  ought  to 
find  a  place  in  these  pages,  but  in  fairness  to  Ramirez  — 
since  he  has  been  under  the  lash  of  Mariano  Lopez  — 
it  may  be  as  well  to  include  it,  even  if  it  suffers  by  com- 
parison with  its  surroundings.  It  would,  however,  be  a 
needless  tax  on  time  and  temper  to  give  what  would  be 
an  easy  refutation  of  its  numerous  mis-statements.  Indeed, 
Ramirez  may  yet  have  to  answer  for  them  in  a  court  of 
justice,  or  at  any  rate,  a  court  of  law.  For  the  present 
it  will  be  sufficient  to  say  that  there  is  no  truth  in  his 
insinuations  and  charges  against  the  Lopez  family.] 


76         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

[Manuel  Ramirez  to  the  Committee  in  Batangas.] 

To  THE  Honorable  Committee  in  Batangas  : 

I,  Manuel  Ramirez,  presidente  of  the  town  of  Balayan, 
with  all  due  respect  and  through  the  president  of  the 
Board  of  Organization  of  this  municipality,  make  the 
following  declaration  : 

That  at  the  municipal  elections  held  in  the  town-hall 
the  day  before  yesterday,  the  29th  of  September,  Seiior 
Julian  Afable  has  been  elected  presidente.  He  is  the 
candidate  presented  by  the  potentates  of  this  town,  the 
Lopez  brothers,  who  had  so  great  an  interest  in  taking 
from  me  my  authority  in  the  town  and  in  giving  it  to 
Afable  that  they  even  went  so  far  as  to  have  votes 
bought  for  the  latter.  In  the  following  pages  I  am  going 
to  state  briefly  why  the  Messrs.  Lopez  did  this.  Having 
an  interest  in  the  prompt  pacification  of  these  Islands, 
I  put  myself  in  November  of  last  year  on  the  side  of  the 
American  officers  stationed  in  this  town,  and  worked  with 
them  to  secure  the  surrender  or  capture,  as  the  case  might 
be,  of  the  insurgents  in  this  territory,  including  the  towns 
of  Balayan,  Tuy,  Nasugbu,  Looc,  Calatagan,  and  Lian. 

Sefior  Cipriano  Lopez,  one  of  the  above-mentioned 
brothers,  was  lieutenant-colonel  and  chief  of  this  dis- 
trict and  these  towns  until  we  succeeded  in  discover- 
ing on  Bancalan,  Tuy,  the  encampment  of  the  insurgent 
Major  Sefior  Ignacio  Laines,  which  belonged  to  the 
above-mentioned  lieutenant -colonel's  company.  The 
Americans  found  in  this  place  a  traveling-bag  belong- 
ing to  Laines,  which  contained  money  and  important 
papers,  which  compromised  a  number  of  citizens  of 
this  town,  one  of  them  being  Seiior  Lorenzo  Lopez, 
brother  of  Cipriano,  and  revolutionary  ex-presidente  of 
Balayan.  In  consequence  of  the  discovery  of  these 
papers  the  American  military  commander  of  this  town, 
Mr.  Langhorne,  ordered  the  arrest  of  various  citizens, 
and  even  that  of  the  before-mentioned  Lorenzo,  which 
was   demanded    by  a  telegram   to   Colonel   Bullard,  in 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         77 

Manila,  where  the  former  [Lorenzo]  then  was,  in  order 
that  Colonel  Ikillard,  when  he  returned  to  Balayan,  where 
the  real  head  of  the  American  detachment  was,  mi^^ht 
bring  Lorenzo  with  him  as  prisoner,  to  include  him  with 
the  other  prisoners  who  were  already  in  the  prison,  and 
send  them  all  to  Guam  unless  they  secured  the  surrender 
of  all  the  insurgents  in  Balayan,  with  their  arms,  num- 
bering upward  of  two  hundred. 

That  when  Lorenzo  was  arrested  in  Manila,  his  brother, 
Sefior  Mariano  Lopez,  who  has  just  affiliated  himself 
with  the  Federal  party,  went  to  Colonel  Bullard  and 
begged  him  not  to  make  his  brother,  Lorenzo,  a  prisoner, 
and  that  he  would  arrange  that  his  other  brother,  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Cipriano,  should  present  himself  within 
three  days  of  the  arrival  of  Colonel  Bullard  and  his 
brothers,  Mariano  and  Lorenzo,  in  the  town.  The  sur- 
render, then,  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Cipriano  Lopez  was 
obligatory,  through  fear  that  the  god  of  the  family, 
Lorenzo  Lopez,  might  be  sent  to  Guam.  From  the  fore- 
going it  is  clearly  seen  that  the  Lopez  brothers,  reveng- 
ing themselves  on  me  because  I  was  friendly  to  the 
Americans,  tried  their  utmost  to  take  from  me  my  com- 
mand of  this  town,  going  so  far  as  to  buy  votes,  as  the 
military  commander,  Mr.  Cheever,  can  prove,  since  an 
elector  has  declared  before  him  that  he  received  payment 
for  his  vote  to  the  amount  of  $3,  and  produced  a  witness 
who  was  present  when  he  received  this  sum  from  one  of 
the  Lopez  agents  who  was  buying  votes.     [ !  ] 

By  the  subjoined  cli])pings  from  the  periodicals  Free- 
dom and  Democracia,  the  honorable  provincial  committee 
will  see  that  Senor  Sixto  Lopez,  the  brother  of  these 
here  in  Balayan,  not  only  spoke  very  ill  of  the  Amer- 
icans [Ramirez  evidently  believes  everything  that  he 
sees  in  print,  except  —  when  directed  against  himself!], 
but  also  took  the  initiative  in  the  formation  of  a  new 
Filipino  government  on  foreign  soil  to  continue  the 
war  which  had  been  semi-paralyzed  here  in  the  Islands 
by    the    capture   of    the    president,    Senor   Aguinaldo. 


78         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

[Ramirez  is  here  creating  history !]  This  fact,  and 
the  tenacious  refusal  to  surrender  of  General  Malvar, 
the  protector  and  intimate  friend  of  the  Lopez  brothers, 
are  closely  related  to  the  elections  at  Balayan,  since 
the  presidente-elect,  Senor  Julian  Afable,  is  a  brother- 
in-law  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  of  the  Philippine 
government,  Seiior  Galicano  Apacible,  and  it  is  not  too 
much  to  suspect  also  that  the  Messrs.  Lopez  continue 
to  work  in  favor  of  the  insurrection.     [ !  ] 

That  the  honorable  provincial  committee  should  not 
believe  that  the  Messrs.  Lopez  have  tried  to  take  from 
me  my  office  of  presidente  because  I  governed  the  town 
badly,  since  I  subjoin  to  this  paper  copies  of  the  cer- 
tificates of  my  conduct,  which  have  been  given  to  me  by 
the  American  military  commanders  who  have  been  here 
and  who  still  are  here.  In  virtue,  therefore,  of  the  right 
given  to  me  by  article  1 3  of  the  municipal  code,  I  present 
this  protest,  in  due  time  and  form,  against  the  election 
of  Sefior  Julian  Afable,  praying  the  honorable  provincial 
committee  to  declare  the  elections  held  here  null  and 
void,  and  to  prohibit  the  electors  from  voting  for  Senor 
Afable  [There  is  democracy  for  you !],  since  there  are 
reasonable  grounds  for  suspecting  his  loyalty,  or  to  take 
the  most  extreme  action  which  justice  will  allow. 

Manuel  Ramirez,  Presidente. 

Balayan,  October  i,  1901. 

[The  following  proposed  reply  of  Mariano's,  though 
not  intended  as  a  refutation  of  Ramirez's  charges,  is  here 
included  because  it  gives  information  about  the  Lopez 
family  which  may  interest  the  reader.  It  is  understood 
that  Mariano  never  sent  it  in,  which  perhaps  was  fortu- 
nate, for  anything  in  the  form  of  a  controversy  with 
Manuel  Ramirez  would  only  have  resulted  in  a  loss  of 
dignity.] 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         79 

[Proposed  reply  of  Mariano  Lopez  to  charges  of  Manuel  Ramirez.] 

I,  a  representative  of  the  province  of  Batangas  in  the 
congress  of  Malolos,  having  never  been  in  favor  of  the 
war  of  my  country  against  America,  declared  this  at 
the  first  outbreak  of  hostihties  between  the  Americans 
and  the  Filipinos,  before  General  Otis,  together  with  Drs. 
Bourne  and  Pardo  de  Tavera.  Therefore,  since  I  wished 
that  my  province  should  lay  down  its  arms  I  offered  my 
services  to  the  said  general,  asking  for  a  pass,  so  that  I 
might  go  there  and  work  toward  that  end.  My  request 
was  granted ;  but  when  I  arrived  in  the  provinces 
I  found  the  military  element  so  preponderant  that  I  could 
not  immediately  further  my  purpose  without  danger  to 
my  life,  —  except  gradually  when  special  occasion  offered, 
as  will  be  seen  by  my  subsequent  actions. 

At  the  time  of  the  capture  and  military  occupation  of 
my  town  of  Balayan,  by  the  Twenty-eighth  Volunteers 
under  the  command  of  Major  Taggart,  I  persuaded  the 
people  who  were  scattered  about  through  the  outlying 
districts  and  the  mountains  to  return  to  their  homes 
and  recognize  American  sovereignty.  I  had  already 
tried  to  persuade  my  brother.  Colonel  Cipriano,  to  sur- 
render to  the  American  Government  with  all  his  forces, 
but  did  not  succeed  because  of  his  sense  of  honor. 

Some  months  after  that,  when  good  feeling  had  been 
established  between  the  town  and  the  American  forces, 
I  came  to  Manila  to  look  after  my  interests,  and  there, 
when  the  Federal  party  was  formed,  afifiliated  myself  with 
it,  was  nominated  a  delegate  of  this  party,  and  organized 
committees  for  it  in  Balayan  and  Calaca. 

As  at  this  time  I  was  nearing  the  conclusion  of  my 
work  in  the  towns  mentioned,  I  knew  that  very  soon 
General  Trias,  the  superior  officer  of  my  brother  Cipriano, 
would  surrender,  I  urged  the  latter  to  do  the  same,  and, 
with  the  aid  of  my  step-mother  and  brothers,  finally 
obtained  his  surrender  and  that  of  all  his  troops,  together 
with  their  arms  and  ammunition.     This  surrender  was 


8o         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

made  on  the  i  ith  of  March  of  this  year  to  Colonel  Bullard, 
of  the  Thirty-ninth  Volunteers,  stationed  at  Balayan. 

On  the  2d  of  April  of  the  same  year,  at  the 
request  of  Colonel  Bullard,  I  was  commissioned  by  the 
Military  Government  to  persuade  General  Malvar  to 
become  loyal,  and  although  I  have  not  accomplished  this, 
I  have  in  its  place  succeeded  in  persuading  General 
Katigbak  and  Colonel  Calao  to  surrender  with  their 
forces  to  the  commanding  officer  in  Lipa. 

In  the  same  way,  to  assist  Colonel  Bullard,  I  con- 
tributed to  the  surrender  of  General  Cailles. 

Since  the  surrender  of  my  brother  with  his  troops,  the 
peace  in  my  town  of  Balayan  has  not  been  disturbed  in 
the  least  degree,  and  being  desirous  to  consolidate  this 
state  of  affairs,  I  urged  and  obtained  from  the  Military 
Government  the  holding  of  municipal  elections  on  the 
29th  of  last  September,  basing  my  action  upon  the  peace 
which  the  town  enjoyed. 

Being  defeated  at  the  election,  Senor  Manuel  Ramirez 
laid  a  written  protest  before  the  provincial  council  of 
Batangas,  not  only  questioning  the  legality  of  the  elec- 
tions, but  attacking  me  and  my  brothers,  accusing  us  of 
having  close  relations  with  General  Malvar  because  of 
our  old  friendship  for  him,  and  because  of  the  acts  of  our 
brother  Sixto,  who  has  lived  abroad  nearly  ten  years. 
As  was  to  be  expected,  the  provincial  council  has  disre- 
garded this  protest,  deciding  that  the  elections  were 
properly  held  in  accordance  with  the  municipal  code. 
Nevertheless,  in  view  of  this  protest,  which  contained 
also  false  and  infamous  accusations,  I  could  do  no  less 
than,  in  return,  protest  against  it  in  writing  to  General 
Wade  and  General  Chaffee. 

In  the  middle  of  last  October  I  received  word  from 
Hong-Kong  from  my  brother  Sixto  that  a  friend  of 
his,  Mr.  Warren,  was  coming  to  the  Philippines ;  and 
because  of  the  favors  he  owed  this  gentleman  and  his 
family  in  America,  he  charged  me  to  receive  and  enter- 
tain him  in  my  house,  the  invitation  having  already  been 


STORY    OF    THK    LOPEZ    FAMILY         8i 

given  and  accepted.  As  I  was  pledged  to  do,  I  received 
this  gentleman  in  my  house.  While  matters  stood  thus, 
and  as  I  and  my  brothers  knew  that  my  brother  Sixto 
was  in  Hong-Kong  and  desirous  to  return  home,  we 
entered  into  correspondence  with  him,  telling  him  of  the 
actual  situation  of  the  country,  the  necessity  for  pacify- 
ing it,  and  the  bad  opinion  which  the  authorities  held  of 
him  as  an  agitator  for  the  war  against  America.  That 
this  is  the  truth  I  can  prove  by  the  letter  which  my 
brother  Sixto  wrote  me  in  answer,  and  which  I  keep.  In 
this  letter  he  assures  me  he  has  never  been  in  favor  of 
the  war,  and  that  he  would  offer  himself  to  the  Govern- 
ment to  aid  in  pacifying  the  country,  provided  they  would 
not  oblige  him  to  take  the  oath  on  his  arrival,  so  that 
he  might  not  thus  lose  his  influence  over  Malvar  and 
Lukban 

[Reply  unfmished.]  [Mariano  Lopez.] 


[After  the  foregoing  enforced  deviation  into  the  realm  of 
the  disagreeable,  for  Ramirez  and  all  that  pertains  to  him 
must  be  so  regarded,  it  is  refreshing  to  return  to  the  purer 
atmosphere  of  Juliana's  letters.  The  two  following  were 
the  first  that  she  wrote  after  she  knew  of  Clcmencia's 
departure  for  America.  The  tone  of  these  letters  shows  a 
change  in  Juliana's  character,  a  strengthening  and  deep- 
ening of  her  nature.  With  the  knowledge  that  she  must 
then  and  thereafter  act  upon  her  own  responsibility, 
came  a  corresponding  sense  of  self-reliance  ;  and  just  as 
"  heartsickness  "  is  the  prelude  to  soul-expansion,  so  self- 
reliance  is  its  natural  and  necessary  accompaniment. 

Andrea,  the  eldest  daughter,  was  the  only  one  of  the 
family  then  in  Balayan.  11  er  report  of  what  the  Ameri- 
can soldiers  were  doing,  under  General  Bell's  new  policy, 
is  in  striking  contrast  with  their  admirable  conduct  at  an 
earlier  period.  And  there  had  been  no  "  provocation," 
as  hg-s  been  so  frequently  alleged  in  other  connections. 


82         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

Balayan  was  the  one  "  pacified  "  town  in  the  province. 
All  this  goes  to  show  that  it  is  not  the  American 
soldier,  but  the  policy  and  methods,  that  are  essentially 
at  fault.] 

[From  Juliana  to  Sixto  Lopez.] 

Manila,  January  8,  1902. 

Dear  Brother  :  We  have  received  your  letter  of  the 
28th,  and  indeed  we  were  much  displeased  that  you  had 
allowed  Clemen  to  go  alone  without  any  of  the  family 
with  her,  for  we  should  have  wished  you  to  go  with  her, 
as  is  natural  and  the  custom  of  the  country.  But  apart 
from  that  we  are  consoled  by  the  idea  that  she  is  accom- 
panied by  a  friend  worthy  of  all  confidence,  who  will  help 
her  in  every  way  and  take  great  pains  that  she  lacks 
for  nothing.  Mother  agrees  entirely  to  what  you  have 
decided,  and  indeed  she  was  obliged  to  agree  to  it,  know- 
ing as  she  does  our  sad  situation.  When  we  telegraphed 
for  Clemen  and  Mariquita  to  come  it  was  only  so  that 
Consuelo  might  not  come  alone,  for  we  thought  at  first 
that  the  idea  of  going  to  America  was  only  a  proposal ; 
we  did  not  know  that  you  had  already  decided  and  that 
she  would  go  without  mother's  consent.  Believe  me, 
mother,  who  now  knows  all  that  happened  here,  is  willing, 
and  was  only  troubled  by  the  expense  it  would  occasion, 
but  your  letter  relieved  her. 

Since  the  31st  of  last  month  our  brothers  have  been 
prisoners  in  the  Bay  on  board  of  one  of  the  United 
States  transports,  and  in  three  days  they  will  be  taken 
to  Olongapo.  Yesterday  we  went  to  visit  them,  and  the 
officers  of  the  guard  were  good  enough  to  let  us  talk 
with  them  for  a  long  time.   .  .  . 

They  were  imprisoned  at  Batangas,  and  were  not 
allowed  to  make  a  declaration  or  even  know  of  what 
they  were  accused ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  transport 
"  Liscum  "  took  them,  after  they  had  been  imprisoned 
three  weeks  in  the  jail,  and  brought  them  to  Manila  on 
the  way  to  Olongapo.      They  are,   in  a  way,  resigned 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         83 

to  their  fate  and  are  glad  that  they  are  going  to 
Olongapo,  because  in  Batangas  they  suffered  morally 
and  physically.  They  say  that  they  were  given 
nothing  to  eat  but  rice  and  salt,  and  that  many  of  the 
lawyers  and  rich  men  of  the  town,  whose  names  they 
gave,  were  made  to  work  in  the  streets  Uke  the  lowest 
criminals ;  and  although  it  is  true  that  they  [the  three 
brothers]  were  not  obliged  to  work,  they  were  horrified 
at  so  much  injustice,  and  suffered  just  as  much.  All 
our  affairs  are  still  suspended,  and  through  a  letter  which 
I  received  from  the  captain  of  the  "  Purisima,"  who  was 
in  Balayan  on  the  23d  of  December,  Andrea  has  sent 
word  that  she  has  been  obliged  to  leave  our  house,  so 
that  the  soldiers  could  occupy  it,  and  that  she  is  going 
away  for  fear  that  they  should  commit  some  outrage 
upon  her  person. 

Andrea  says  that  the  Americans  are  now  doing  every- 
•  thing  that  the  Spaniards  did  during  the  war,  and  I  am 
very  much  astonished,  for  always  formerly  when  we  told 
them  about  things  done  by  the  Spaniards  they  were  very 
indignant,  calling  the  Spaniards  barbarous  and  inhuman 
and  using  the  strongest  language  possible.  And  what 
makes  me  despair  all  the  more  is  that  they  do  not  allow  us 
to  speak  of  the  injustices  which  are  being  committed  in 
these  provinces.  No  newspaper  dares  to  complain,  and 
the  only  one  which  explains  things  is  El  Rcnacimicjito, 
but  even  it  does  not  dare  to  speak  openly,  under  pain 
of  law.  We  are  glad  you  are  not  coming  now. 
Good-bye.     Remembrances  from  everybody. 

Affectionately,  Ninay. 


[From  Juliana  to  SLxto  Lopez.] 

Manila,  January  10,  1902. 
Dear  Brother  :    I  told  you  briefly  in  my  previous 
letter  that  Mariquita  arrived  Tuesday  at  i  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  but  could  not  land  until  8  a,  m.,  when  Charing 


84         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

[wife  of  Mariano]  and  I  and  some  other  friends  went  to 
meet  her  on  board  the  "  Rosetta."  We  found  the  poor 
thing  very  thin,  and  so  weak  that  she  could  not  stand,  so 
that  for  a  moment  we  thought  she  had  been  taken  ill 
before  starting ;  but  she  told  us  that  since  going  aboard 
she  had  eaten  nothing,  owing  to  the  badness  of  the 
voyage.  She  had  also  suffered  much  when  she  remem- 
bered the  few  happy  days  spent  with  you,  wondering 
when  she  would  see  you  again.  Indeed,  only  God  knows 
when  we  shall  all  have  that  great  pleasure,  if  in  a  few 
days  you  go  far  from  these  Islands,  as  you  think  of 
doing.  Pardon  me  for  saying  once  more  that  we  are  all, 
and  particularly  mother,  very  willing,  and  all  the  more 
so,  because  of  Clemen's  going ;  although,  to  tell  you  the 
truth,  many  who  call  themselves  our  friends  do  not 
approve,  but  prophesy  that  all  sorts  of  horrible  things 
will  happen  to  our  family  when  it  is  known  that  Clemen 
has  gone  to  look  after  our  affairs. 

Yesterday  afternoon  Mariquita  and  I,  accompanied  by 
an  American  friend,  went  to  visit  our  brothers  on  the 
"  Liscum."  According  to  the  officer  who  has  charge 
of  the  prisoners,  they  are  to  be  taken  to  a  place  in  the 
island  of  Talim,  which  is  in  La  Laguna  de  Bay,  and, 
as  you  will  understand,  we  become  more  and  more 
despairing,  since  they  are  thus  to  be  taken  to  a  place 
where  we  can  neither  see  nor  communicate  with  them. 
Nevertheless,  I  hope  that  Captain  Curry  will  obtain  per- 
mission from  Chaffee  to  keep  them  here  in  Manila ;  for 
he  has  promised  to  try  to  arrange  that  if  they  are  not 
set  at  liberty,  they  may  at  least  be  imprisoned  here  in 
Manila,  where  we  can  see  them  when  we  wish,  and  be 
treated  as  their  position  demands.  I  have  just  found  out 
that  the  "  Oretano  "  is  also  seized  and  the  crew  arrested.* 
I  have  no  news  from  Balayan ;  I  only  know  through  the 
newspapers  that  it  continues  tranquil  as  ever.  I  must 
close  this  now,  for  I  have  still  to  write  to  all  the  officers 


*  Only  temporarily  —  see  later  letters. 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY        85 

in  Balayan  to  beg  from  them  a  statement  vindicating  the 
conduct  of  our  brothers. 

Good-bye,  and  keep  well.  Ninay. 


[Juliana's  next  letter  tells,  among  other  things,  of  the 
assistance  given  her  and  her  family  by  Captain  Curry, 
one  of  the  kindest  of  friends  and  best  of  men.  Unfort- 
unately for  the  Filipinos,  but  fortunately  for  himself,  he  has 
since  resigned  the  position  of  chief  of  the  Manila  police, 
which  he  had  accepted  only  upon  the  urgent  and  repeated 
request  of  Governor  Taft.  "I  have  no  heart  for  such 
work,"  he  was  often  heard  to  say.  Besides  requiring 
hardness  of  heart  in  its  performance,  the  work,  in  its 
less  objectionable  phases,  was  essentially  inequitable. 
The  Civil  Commission  were  making  laws  at  the  rate  of 
about  one  a  day,  "and  frequently,"  said  Captain  Curry, 
"on  my  tour  of  inspection  I  find  Filipinos  in  prison  for 
breaking  laws  that  /  didn't  know  existed." 

Captain  Curry  was  one  of  the  few  men  in  the  Philij> 
pines  who  endeavored  to  look  at  things  from  the  Filipino 
point  of  view.  When  fighting  with  the  Filipinos  he 
'<  fought  hard,"  to  use  his  own  words,  but  he  was  also 
severe  in  the  discipline  of  his  own  men,  and  rigorous  in 
the  punishment  and  prevention  of  abuses.  The  result 
was  that  he  won  the  respect  and  admiration  of  his  foes ; 
he  could  go,  and  did  go,  absolutely  unprotected  within 
their  lines  and  camped  for  several  days  at  their  head- 
quarters, treating  with  their  leaders.  He  finally  pacified 
the  entire  province  of  which  he  had  command,  and  of 
which  he  ultimately  became  governor.  As  governor,  he 
lived  in  the  house  of  a  wealthy  Filipino,  and  thus  made 
himself  one  of  the  people.  When  he  provided  entertain- 
ment, as  was  customary  with  governors  of  provinces,  it 
was  at  his  own  private  expense,  and  the  Filipinos  were 
invited.  Though  a  loyal  Roman  Catholic  he  was  opposed 
to  many  of  the  acts  of  friars,  and,  much  to  their  dis- 


86         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

pleasure,  when  he  attended  church  he  went  as  a  private 
citizen,  without  pomp  or  ceremony. 

His  policy  was  to  avoid  the  sycophant  who  made  elab- 
orate protestations  of  "loyalty"  to  America  ;  he  had  no 
use  for  the  Buencaminos,  the  Taveras,  the  Legardas  of 
his  province.  On  the  contrary,  he  held  that  the  men 
best  fitted  to  take  part  in  the  government  were  those 
who  had  fought  honestly  for  their  ideals.  Thus,  on  one 
occasion,  he  took  a  captured  "  insurgent "  officer  out  of 
prison  and  gave  him  the  important  office  of  Fiscal  Pro- 
vincial—  an  act  which  he  never  had  occasion  to  regret. 
His  province  was  one  of  the  best  governed  in  the  Islands, 
and  Captain  Curry  himself  declares  that  he  could  travel 
from  end  to  end  of  it  without  a  guard  or  protection  of 
any  kind. 

All  this  is  in  striking  contrast  to  the  methods  pursued 
in  other  provinces,  where  the  native  is  often  despised  as 
a  "nigger  "  ;  where  thrice-renegade  sycophants  are  given 
responsible  positions;  and  where  honest  opponents  are 
treated  too  frequently  with  contempt  and  "  marked 
severity,"  to  use  no  stronger  term. 

Furthermore,  Captain  Curry's  methods  and  success 
are  a  significant  refutation  of  the  contention  that  the 
abuses  of  the  American  soldiers  were  "  provoked  "  by 
the  Filipinos  themselves.  There  were  no  cases  of  "  water 
cure,"  or  wholesale  slaughter,  or  torture,  or  burning 
within  Captain  Curry's  jurisdiction.  "  Military  necessity," 
in  his  case,  did  not  demand  any  such  methods,  yet  his 
success  in  pacification  has  never  been  equaled,  or  even 
approached,  in  any  other  province.] 

[From  Juliana  to  Sixto  Lopez.] 

Manila,  January  14,  1902. 

Dear  Brother  :  Two  days  ago  Mariquita  and  I  went 

to  see  Captain  Curry  to  beg  him  that  he,  in  his  turn, 

should  ask  the  other  authorities  that  our  brothers  should 

not  be  taken  to  the  island  of  Talim  as  proposed,  but  that 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         87 

he  might  be  answerable  for  them,  keeping  them  as  pris- 
oners here  in  Manila.  As  they  are  both  delicate  in 
health,  especially  Lorenzo,  we  should  like  to  have  them 
here  near  us,  so  that  we  can  see  them  and  help  them 
when  they  need  our  care.  This  good  friend  i)romised 
that  he  would  speak  to  Chaffee  about  all  this,  and  what 
is  more,  he  told  us  that  if  he  succeeded  he  would  keep 
our  brothers  in  his  house,  where  they  would  be  much 
better  off.  But  this  afternoon  we  learned  from  him  that 
this  would  not  be  granted  us,  and  that  he  had  received  a 
telegram  from  Bell  saying  that  Cipriano  would  not  be  set 
at  hberty  until  his  hair  turned  gray,  since  there  were  fifty 
guns  which  he  had  not  given  up  on  the  day  of  his  surrender ; 
but  that  he  would  be  freed  the  moment  that  he  gave  them 
up ;  that  as  for  the  other  two,  according  to  his  notion 
and  for  the  good  of  the  Government  they  had  better 
remain  as  they  were  to  keep  Cipriano  company  ;  and 
finally,  that  because  they  had  a  brother,  Sixto  Lopez, 
who  was  a  great  enemy  of  the  Government,  they  were 
justly  imprisoned.     [ !  ] 

This,  as  you  will  understand,  distresses  us  very  much, 
because  it  makes  us  realize  more  and  more  that  we  can 
have  no  hope  for  justice  from  these  gentlemen,  who 
boast  of  doing  everything  according  to  the  law  and  for 
the  good  of  the  Government,  although  they  sacrifice 
those  who  hav^e  not  deserved  such  punishment.  Never- 
theless, it  consoles  us  much  to  have  some  friends  who 
help  us  and  who  do  what  they  can  to  have  our  brothers 
well  treated  and  well  fed ;  and  we  ought  not  to  forget 
that  although  some  desire  our  misfortune  others  of  that 
same  race  are  working  for  our  happiness.  .   .   . 

Good-bye  until  next  time,  with  many  regards  for  your- 
self and  for  Mr.  Patterson. 

Affectionately,  Ninay. 

\ 

P.  S.  —  This    morning  at   6  o'clock  they  took    our 

brothers  to  the  island  of  TaUm,  where  they  say  there 
are  no  houses,  so  that  they  will  have  to  live  in  field-tents. 


88         STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

I  have  not  written  about  it  to  Clemen,  because  I  did  not 
know  her  present  address. 


[Courtesy  to  Filipino  opponents  has  not  been  a  con- 
spicuous characteristic  during  the  war.  Yet  courtesy 
costs  little  and  means  much ;  and,  so  far  from  its  being 
incompatible  with  the  duty  or  instincts  of  a  true  soldier, 
it  has  frequently  been  the  one  redeeming  feature  of  war. 
The  chivalrous  feeling  that  has  prompted  the  soldier  to 
treat  his  captured,  helpless  foe  with  courtesy,  even  kind- 
ness, has  sometimes  raided  war  from  the  realm  of  vulgar 
quarrel  to  that  of  an  honorable  contest  for  what  each 
opponent,  rightly  or  wrongly,  believed  to  be  the  right. 

It  is  therefore  surprising  that  the  following  respect- 
ful request  of  Senor  Lopez's,  based  "  on  grounds  of  hu- 
manity alone,"  should  have  met  with  no  response ;  more 
especially  as  he  is  a  man  of  good  personal  repute,  and, 
although  an  opponent,  is  not  an  "  enemy  "  of  the  United 
States.  It  may  be  urged,  however,  that  Senor  Lopez 
was,  in  General  Chaffee's  belief,  if  not  in  fact,  an  enemy 
of  the  United  States,  and,  as  such,  was  not  entitled  to 
consideration.  But  may  not  General  Chaffee  have  owed 
it  to  himself,  if  not  to  Senor  Lopez,  to  show  courtesy 
even  to  an  enemy  ?  Assuming,  however,  that  the  reason 
is  legitimate,  it  fails  entirely  to  cover  the  case  of  Seiior 
Agoncillo,  chief  of  the  Filipino  Commission  to  Wash- 
ington, who,  prior  to  the  outbreak  of  hostilities,  wrote 
several  respectful  communications  to  the  Secretary  of 
State,  to  which  he  received  no  reply  whatever.  Those 
who  incline  to  the  theory  that  the  Filipinos  were  the  first 
aggressors  ought  to  know  that  twenty-four  days  before 
the  outbreak  of  hostilities  Senor  Agoncillo,  zv/io  coiild 
not  then  be  regarded  as  in  any  sense  an  "  eiiemy  "  of  the 
United  States,  appealed  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  in 
what  has  since  proved  to  have  been  prophetic  language, 
for  a  frank  communication  of  America's  intentions  with 


]()si';    Makia    Basa 
[See   note  in  list  of  illustrations] 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         89 

regard  to  the  Philippines  :  "  Permit  me,"  wrote  Agoncillo 
on  the  iith  of  January,  1899,  "to  express  my  sincere 
regret  that  up  to  the  present  time  I  have  not  been  favored 
with  a  reply  to  or  an  acknowledgment  of  the  [previous] 
letter  submitted.  ...  In  view  of  the  present  status  of 
affairs  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  and  of  the  fact  that,  in 
the  present  strained  position,  the  impetuous  action  of  a 
Filipino  or  the  over-zeal  of  an  American  soldier  —  acts 
based  upon  the  impulse  of  a  moment  —  may  create  a 
condition  resulting  in  grievous  loss  of  life,  as  well  as  in 
a  memory  that  both  nations  might  carry  with  them  for 
years,  I  again  urge  upon  you  the  necessity  of  an  early 
and  frank  communication  between  the  representatives  of 
the  countries  in  question."  On  the  24th  of  January  — 
eleven  days  before  the  "  over-zeal  "of  the  Nebraska  sen- 
try precipitated  the  conflict  —  Agoncillo  again  appeals 
on  behalf  of  the  Filipinos  for  an  assurance  that  the 
troops  then  being  sent  to  the  Philippines  were  not  in- 
tended as  a  menace  to  his  government  or  his  country- 
men —  appeals  to  the  Secretary  of  State  and  to  "  a 
Republic  whose  name  they  [the  Filipinos]  have  always 
believed  was  associated  with  freedom  and  to  which  they 
have  come  first  applying  for  recognition  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth." 

Not  a  word  of  reply,  not  even  an  acknowledgment 
of  receipt,  was  ever  given  to  these  respectful,  almost 
pathetic,  appeals.  Had  some  form  of  friendly  reply  been 
made,  had  the  sought-for  assurance  been  given,  —  the 
history  of  the  Philippines  might  have  been  very  differ- 
ent from  what  it  has  been  during  recent  years.  Neglect 
such  as  this  is  liable  to  inflict  a  wound  upon  legitimate 
pride  which  time  alone  can  heal. 

The  cause  of  Sixto  Lopez's  anxiety,  and  the  reason 
of  his  writing  the  following  letter,  were  reports  which 
reached  him  to  the  effect  that  Lorenzo,  who  had  always 
been  delicate,  was  seriously  ill.] 


90         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 


[From  Sixto  Lopez  to  General  Chaffee.] 

Hong-Kong,  January  15,  1902. 
Maj.-Gen.  Adna  R.  Chaffee, 

Military  Commander  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  Manila. 

General  :  I  have  heard  from  private  sources  of  the 
arrest  and  imprisonment  of  my  three  brothers,  Lorenzo, 
Cipriano,  and  Manuel  Lopez,  and  I  am  naturally  anxious 
on  their  behalf.  But  from  various  reports  which  have 
reached  me,  I  am  specially  anxious  about  Lorenzo,  who 
has  always  been  very  delicate,  and  who,  I  fear,  will  suffer 
seriously  if  subjected  to  even  the  ordinary  hardships  of 
prison  discipline.  I  should  therefore  be  much  indebted 
to  you  if  you  would,  on  grounds  of  humanity  alone, 
kindly  instruct  one  of  your  staff  to  give  me  any  infor- 
mation available  in  reference  to  Lorenzo's  health,  and  the 
conditions  under  which  he  will  be  compelled  to  remain. 

If  not  inconsistent  with  your  authority  and  duty  I 
should  be  glad  to  know,  also,  the  reason  of  my  brothers' 
arrest  and  of  the  seizure  of  our  family's  property. 

In  the  event  of  your  finding  it  impossible  to  convey 
any  or  all  of  this  information  to  me  direct,  perhaps  you 
would  be  good  enough  to  furnish  it  to  the  American  con- 
sul here  in  Hong-Kong,  who  would,  no  doubt,  inform  me 
unofficially  of  its  nature. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be.  General,  your  obedient  serv- 
ant, Sixto  Lopez. 


[The  following  letter  is  from  the  youngest  sister, 
Maria,  aged  seventeen.  It  tells,  among  other  things,  of 
brotherly  kindness  which,  it  is  said  by  the  mother,  has 
"  not  changed  "  with  the  lapse  of  years.  This  is  hardly 
a  fair  specimen  of  Maria's  letters ;  later  on  it  will  be 
found  that,  young  as  she  is,  she  has  ideas  of  her  own 
and  is  not  afraid  to  express  them.] 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         91 


[From  Maria  (aged  seventeen)  to  Sixto  Lopez.] 

Manila,  January  15,  rgo2. 

Dear  Brother  :  I  have  not  been  able  to  write  you 
these  last  few  days,  because,  as  Ninay  will  have  written 
you,  I  felt  so  ill  after  so  bad  a  voyage,  and  so  she  had 
to  write  for  me.  I  found  them  all  very  well,  but  very 
unhappy,  especially  mother,  who  wept  when  she  saw  me, 
and  immediately  asked  me  about  you.  When  I  told  her 
you  were  sorry  to  have  me  leave  so  soon  she  was  even  more 
troubled,  for  she  wanted  me  to  be  with  you  all  the  time 
that  you  were  in  Hong-Kong  so  that  you  should  not  think 
of  coming  —  although  she  wants  to  see  you  very  much. 
But  she  was  obliged  to  telegraph  for  me  to  come  with 
Consuleo,  because  it  would  not  do  for  mother,  having 
assumed  responsibility  to  Consuelo's  parents,  to  allow 
her  to  come  alone.  For  my  part  I  am  sorry  for  having 
left  Hong-Kong  while  you  are  still  there,  and  I  cannot 
help  crying  when  I  remember  the  days  I  passed  with 
you.  .  .  .  I  have  told  them  all  how  good  you  were  to  me  — 
how  you  were  always  taking  me  out  to  walk,  and  giving 
me  all  sorts  of  pleasure;  and  mother  was  very  happy 
about  this,  for  she  says  you  have  not  changed,  and  are 
good  to  your  sisters,  as  you  always  were. 

I  suppose  you  already  know  from  Ninay 's  letter  that 
our  brothers  have  been  deported  to  the  island  of  Talim. 
We  were  very  sorry  we  could  do  nothing  for  them.  The 
day  before  yesterday  Ninay  and  I  went  to  the  office 
of  General  Chaffee  to  beg  him  to  let  them  remain  as 
prisoners  here  in  Manila ;  but  we  could  only  see  the 
adjutant,  who  told  us  that  the  general  did  not  wish  to 
interfere  in  any  way  with  what  General  Bell  was  doing 
in  Batangas.  So  we  went  away  in  despair,  not  know- 
ing what  to  do.  I  feel  especially  for  Lorenzo,  who  is  not 
accustomed  to  these  privations,  for  it  is  said  they  have 
nothing  but  tents  there.  I  am  sorry  also  for  mother, 
who  is  always  unhappy  since  she  has  known  of  the  arrest 
of  our  brothers,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  I  am  always 


92         STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ   FAMILY 

telling  her  that  we  ought  to  be  resigned ;  that  we  are 
not  the  only  ones  who  are  unfortunate,  but  that  there  are 
many  others.  I  tell  her,  too,  that  you  think  that  Clemen 
can  do  much  toward  getting  liberty  for  our  brothers, 
which  indeed  is  our  only  hope.  .  .  . 

Good-bye.  Regards  to  everybody,  especially  to  the 
Basa  family,  and  you  know  that  I  love  you  and  do  not 
forget  you.  Maria. 

-») 

[Juliana,  no  longer  of  the  convent  school,  may  be  al- 
lowed to  continue  the  story  in  the  following  letter.] 


[From  Juliana  to  Sixto  Lopez.] 

Manila,  January  17,  1902. 

Dear  Brother  :  Yesterday  I  received  two  letters 
from  Andrea,  in  which  she  says  that  she  is  doing  well  in 
Balayan  and  is  not  afraid  the  Americans  will  insult  her, 
so  that  we  have  not  insisted  that  she  should  come  to 
Manila,  for  if  she  did  come  no  one  would  look  after  what 
we  have  there.  They  told  her  to  leave  the  house,  but  at 
her  request  they  gave  her  the  entresol,  and  there  she  has 
resigned  herself  to  live.  They  have  let  her  have  our 
room  also,  because  there  were  so  many  things  in  it  that 
belong  only  to  women,  and  so  they  respected  it.  Pardon 
me  for  saying  that  our  enemies  and  those  who  are  jealous 
of  us  are  glad  of  all  that  is  happening  to  us ;  and  not 
content  with  that,  are  improving  the  opportunity  to  accuse 
us  of  all  sorts  of  things  which  are  false,  so  that  we  may 
be  ruined,  and  our  poor  people  with  us,  who  have  com- 
mitted no  other  fault  than  that  of  being  loyal  to  us. 

In  order  that  you  may  see  the  baseness  with  which  we 
are  treated,  I  will  tell  you  that  three  of  our  superintend- 
ents, in  whom  Lorenzo  had  absolute  confidence,  and  to 
whom  we  owe  favors  that  grateful  hearts  can  never  forget, 
are  imprisoned  in  Balayan  because  they  are,  as  those  who 


STORY   OF   THE    LOPEZ   FAMILY        93 

denounced  them  say,  the  keepers  of  the  fifty  guns  to 
which  General  BcW  referred  in  his  telegram  to  Captain 
Curry,  and  which  I  told  you  about  in  my  previous  letter. 
From  this  telegram  we  infer,  then,  that  Captain  Cheever, 
of  the  Sixth  Cavalry,  commanding  officer  in  Balayan 
for  the  last  ten  months,  is  the  author  of  the  arrest  of  our 
brothers,  incited  by  Ramirez  and  company  through  their 
denunciations,  without  any  proof  that  would  justify  their 
course.  Besides,  Andrea  says  that  the  report  got  about 
in  Balayan  that  you  had  come  at  last,  frightened  by  the 
.arrest  of  our  brothers,  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance. 
This  story  was  set  rolling,  as  we  are  informed,  by  the 
miserable  Viving,  whom  I  suppose  you  will  remember  as 
following  his  deceased  father's  footsteps  {^rcqiiicscat  in 
pace).  .  .  . 

I  will  not  write  any  more,  for  this  letter  is  so  full  of 
blunders  that  I  am  afraid  you  will  not  understand  it. 
Good-bye. 

Thine  to  dispose  of,  Ninay. 

[The  report,  referred  to  above,  that  Sixto  Lopez, 
"frightened  by  the  arrest  of  his  brothers,"  had  come  to 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  was  apparently  another 
instance  where  "the  wish  is  parent  to  the  thought  " — 
a  wish  shared  by  others  as  well  as  by  "  the  miserable 
Viving  "  !  —  as  we  shall  see  hereafter. 

'^ 

The  following  letter  contains  several  items  of  interest 
which  will  be  commented  upon  later.] 

[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  January  21,  1902. 
Dear  Clemen  :  You  cannot  imagine  how  I  felt  when 
I  read  your  letters  written  on  board  a  steamer  on  the 
way  to  Europe.     I  received  them  on  the  20th  in  the 


94         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

afternoon,  and  the  more  I  read  the  more  distressed 
I  was,  for  I  realized  that  you  were  very  far  from  us, 
alone  in  a  strange  country.  And  so  I  could  not  help  cry- 
ing all  the  time  I  was  reading  your  letters.  We  are  just 
as  unhappy  as  we  were  when  you  left  Hong-Kong,  for 
our  poor  brothers  are  still  prisoners,  and,  what  is  worse, 
a  week  ago  they  were  deported  to  the  island  of  Talim 
(La  Laguna  de  Bay).  .  .  . 

The  first  time  that  Charing  and  I  went  to  visit  our 
brothers  we  went  with  Captain  Curry  (who  is  as  kind  as 
ever),  in  the  launch  of  the  captain  of  the  port,  who  is  a 
friend  of  Manuel's.  When  he  knew  that  I  was  Manuel's 
sister  he  offered  us  his  launch  to  go  out  in  the  bay  to 
where  the  "  Liscum  "  was  anchored.  We  have  been  sev- 
eral times,  sometimes  accompanied  by  Carlos  and  at  other 
times  alone  or  with  Mariano.  Many  other  prisoners  have 
come  with  them,  and  among  those  that  we  know  are 
Felix  Unzon,  Babasa  and  his  son  from  Batangas,  Martin, 
Marasigan  the  lawyer,  and  the  old  man  from  Taal  who 
came  with  us  when  we  went  to  Calapan.  My  brothers 
told  me  they  were  better  off  on  board  the  ship  than  in 
the  prison  of  Batangas,  for  besides  the  fact  that  they 
were  there  given  nothing  but  rice  and  salt  for  three 
weeks,  they  had  to  sleep  on  the  tiles  and  were  given  no 
beds ;  so  that  when  we  saw  Lorenzo  he  was  very  weak 
from  having  been  sick  with  dysentery.  He  would  have 
died  there  if  they  had  not  taken  him  away.  Fort- 
unately for  us,  the  company  which  guards  the  prisoners 
on  board  are  humane,  from  the  captain  to  the  last  sol- 
dier, so  that  they  have  no  complaint  to  make  of  them. 
Besides,  the  captain  and  the  second  lieutenant  of  this 
company  are  friends  of  Carlos,  and  our  brothers  go  well 
recommended  to  their  care  by  him. 

When  we  went  out  there  they  received  us  well,  espe- 
cially the  lieutenant,  who  has  been  to  call  upon  us  here 
at  the  house,  offering  to  do  everything  in  his  power  to 
lessen  the  sufferings  of  our  brothers  and  to  give  them 
everything  that  they  need.     As  you  will  understand,  I 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         95 

was  very  glad,  and  you  would  have  been,  too,  if  you 
could  know  these  gentlemen,  who  are  the  ones  who  go 
with  them  to  the  island  of  Talim.  The  only  thing  that 
troubles  me  is  that  in  that  wild  place  there  is  no  house, 
since  it  is  a  very  small  island.  It  is  said  that  the 
prisoners  live  in  tents,  but  that  nipa-huts  are  to  be  built 
for  them.  At  present,  while  we  have  not  yet  decided 
to  go  to  see  them,  since  many  of  our  friends  have  ad- 
vised us  not  to  go,  we  send  things  by  the  captain  of  the 
steamer  which  goes  to  the  island  three  times  a  week, 
and  we  have  included  a  letter  for  some  one  of  the  offi- 
cers there,  who,  as  I  told  you,  have  offered  to  help  us. 

We  tried  very  hard  to  have  them  kept  as  prisoners 
here  in  Manila,  so  much  so  that  we  begged  Captain 
Curry  to  become  responsible  for  them  and  keep  them  in 
his  house,  to  which  he  agreed  very  willingly,  and  imme- 
diately sent  a  telegram  to  Bell,  who  answered  that  he 
could  not  possibly  give  them  either  Uberty  or  such 
privileges ;  that,  as  Cipriano  failed  to  give  up  the  fifty 
guns  when  he  surrendered,  he  would  not  be  set  at 
liberty  until  he  did  give  them  up;  that  it  seemed  to 
him  a  good  thing  and  of  great  service  to  the  Govern- 
ment that  Manuel  and  Lorenzo  should  also  remain  pris- 
oners to  keep  Cipriano  company,  who,  according  to  Bell, 
will  be  a  prisoner  until  his  hair  turns  gray  ;  and  finally, 
that  he  would  not  give  them  their  liberty  until  Sixto 
should  come  and  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  help 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  pacify  the 
provinces  of  Batangas  and  Laguna  and  the  island  of 
Saraar.  How  can  I  say  what  passed  in  my  mind 
when  I  read  the  telegram  ?  I  did  not  really  believe  that 
those  who  had  called  themselves  our  friends  in  Balayan 
had  been  so  false,  for  you  must  know  that  the  super- 
intendents at  Dao,  Matayunac,  and  Toong  are  also 
arrested.  .   .  . 

For  this  reason  none  of  us  believe  that  Captain  Cole 
has  defended  us  at  all,  and  we  expect  even  less  from 
Captain   Cheevcr.     We  have  suffered  much  from   the 


96         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

cowardice  of  the  former.  Two  days  ago  [Lieutenant] 
Raymond  was  here.  He  came  to  see  us  the  first 
day  after  his  arrival,  and  you  who  know  us  so  well 
can  imagine  what  we  said  to  him.  He  is  very  much 
ashamed,  excusing  the  others  for  the  arrest  of  our 
brothers,  for  I  told  him  that  if  we  had  for  a  moment 
imagined  that  the  Americans  suspected  our  family,  we 
should  not  have  continued  to  live  in  Balayan  during  such 
a  time,  receiving  them  in  our  house  like  real  friends ; 
that  we  should  have  gone  away  from  there  and  been  on 
our  guard  ;  but  that,  as  they  were  apparently  so  kind,  we 
did  not  think  of  any  danger  while  we  were  doing  nothing 
against  them. 

Andrea  has  written  me  three  letters,  which  I  have 
received  through  some  soldiers  who  have  come.  She 
told  me  in  her  letter  that  they  sent  for  her  to  leave  our 
house  so  that  the  soldiers  could  occupy  it.  At  first  she 
did  not  want  to  go,  but  she  understood  that  she  could  do 
nothing  against  superior  force.  Still,  when  she  invoked 
the  Constitution  of  America,  they  gave  up  to  her  our 
room  and  the  entresol,  and  there  she  is  now  Hving  alone 
with  Emilio.  God  grant  that  they  may  keep  well  and 
not  be  insulted.  I  have  written  her  several  times  to 
come  here,  but  she  replied  that,  in  the  first  place,  on 
account  of  her  health,  which  suffers  in  the  climate  of 
Manila,  she  thinks  best  not  to  come ;  that  she  does  not 
wish  to  leave  our  poor  people,  who  are  all  in  the  town,  and 
other  affairs  that  no  one  else  would  look  after.  Your 
garden  and  flowers  are  well  looked  after,  according  to 
Raymond.  .  .   . 

[Many  of  our  friends]  disapprove  of  your  going 
[to  America],  ...  for  they  say  that  as  soon  as  the 
authorities  find  out  that  you  have  gone  they  will  revenge 
themselves  on  us.  At  first  Mariano  thought  the  same, 
but  seeing  his  own  ill  success,  he  has  approved.  Mother, 
who  has  been  told  all,  is  very  willing.  Good-bye ; 
regards  to  Mr.  Warren  and  all  his  family,  and  I  send 
you  a  kiss.  Ninay. 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY         97 


["  Still,  when  she  invoked  the  Constitution  of  America, 
they  gave  up  to  her  our  room  and  the  entresol "  !  Was 
ever  a  more  unique  incident  recorded  of  the  American 
Constitution  ?  Did  the  framers  of  that  great  charter 
ever  dream  that  it  would  be  invoked  in  defense  of  per- 
sonal property  in  a  distant  Eastern  country,  and  against 
those  who  were  pledged  to  uphold  its  principles  ?  Well 
might  the  roughest  soldier  yield  to  such  an  appeal !  An 
appeal  for  so  small  a  thing,  backed  by  an  invocation  so 
mighty,  —  and  the  "boys  in  blue  "  yielded! 

"If  heaven  smiles,  it  is  because  thou  ask'st  so  little." 

In  the  name  of  "  the  Constitution  of  America  "  Andrea 
might,  indeed,  have  denounced  those  who  were  attempt- 
ing to  take  from  her  and  her  people  those  *'  inalienable 
rights  "  which  its  framers  declared  to  be  the  birthright 
of  "all  men."  But  her  plea  was  only  for  "our  room 
and  the  entresol"!  And  while  she  was  thus  appealing 
for  permission  to  occupy  her  own  bedroom,  one  of  the 
superintendents  on  her  estates  was  being  tortured  to 
death  in  order  to  make  him  disclose  the  imaginary  place 
of  concealment  of  the  fifty  phantom  guns  alleged  to  be 
in  the  possession  of  her  brother,  Cipriano  I 

Of  cotirse,  there  are  those  who  profess  to  find  excuse 
for  this  Philippine  policy,  and  all  that  it  entails,  in  the 
contention  that  the  Filipinos,  of  whom  Andrea  is  an  ex- 
ample, are  savages,  and  as  such  are  not  included  in  the 
"all  men"  of  the  Declaration.  The  Declaration  itself 
does  not  contain  any  such  limitation,  express  or  implied. 
Its  very  greatness  includes  all  ;  and  those  who  would 
set  limits  to  its  boundless  truth  are  themselves  limited 
either  in  capacity  or  by  ignorance  of  the  facts,  or  else  by 
some  unreasonable  desire  for  power  or  wealth.  Even  the 
slaves  were  ultimately  set  free  when  Lincoln  "  invoked  " 
the  Declaration,  which  is  said  to  be  "  the  soul  of  the 
Constitution."     And  will  any  one  contend  that  the  slave 


98         STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

was  included  in  the  "all  men"  and  that  the  Filipino 
is  not  ? 

In  1888,  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott  preached  a  sermon  in 
which  he  said :  "  Mankind  are  not  fit  for  self-govern- 
ment. That  is  true.  But  mankind  are  better  fitted  to 
govern  themselves  than  any  portion  of  mankind,  however 
selected,  are  fitted  to  govern  any  other  portion  of  man- 
kind. Democracy  rests  on  the  fundamental  truth  that 
man  as  man  —  not  royal  man,  nor  aristocratic  man,  nor 
priestly  man,  nor  Anglo-Saxon  man,  but  man  as  man  — 
was  made  in  the  image  of  God,  and  to  man  as  man 
are  given  the  keys  of  political,  as  of  natural,  dominion. 
Whenever,  wherever,  and  howsoever  this  divine  order  is 
violated,  the  result  is  always  disastrous."  The  immut- 
able truth  of  this  last  sentence  has  been  attested  in 
blood  and  fire  in  the  Philippines. 

The  three  following  letters  contain  items  of  general 
interest,  and  sundry  opinions  about  American  officers, 
which  give  an  insight  into  the  effect  on  the  mind  of  the 
Filipinos  of  General  Chaffee's  policy.] 


[From  Maria  (aged  seventeen)  to  Sixto  Lopez,  at  Hong-Kong.] 

Manila,  January  21,  1902. 

Dear  Brother  :  To-day  we  have  received  your  letter 
dated  the  1 7th,  and  we  are  much  troubled  at  your  say- 
ing you  have  received  no  letters  from  us  since  I  left 
there,  for  Ninay  has  written  to  you  at  least  five  or  six 
times  since  I  arrived  here,  and  has  sent  you  ^200  [Mex.]  ; 
but  Ninay  will  explain  to  you  why  you  have  not  received 
the  letters. 

In  your  letter  you  advise  me  to  practise  on  the  piano, 
and  I  am  sorry  I  cannot  please  you,  for  our  piano  is  in 
Balayan,  the  one  we  had  here  being  a  rented  one  ;  and 
as  soon  as  Ninay  knew  of  the  arrest  of  our  brothers 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPKZ    FAMILY         99 

and  the  seizure  of  our  goods,  she  had  it  sent  back  at 
once,  because  she  said  she  was  not  in  the  mood  for  play- 
ing, and  besides,  it  was  costing  us  $12  [Mex.]  a  month, 
and  that  is  too  much  luxury  for  us  in  these  days. 

At  last  we  have  received  a  letter  from  Clemen  written 
on  board  the  steamer.  She  says  that  she  is  well  and 
hardly  seasick  at  all.  We  were  much  astonished  at 
that. 

If  you  still  have  the  pictures  of  our  group,  I  would  like 
to  have  you  send  me  some,  for  some  of  our  friends 
would  like  to  have  them  ;  but  do  not  send  them  by  post. 
Mother  wants  to  know  why  I  did  not  have  my  picture 
taken  with  you,  and  in  the  dress  which  I  wore  there,  for 
many  friends  have  said  they  would  like  to  see  me  in 
European  clothes  ;  but  I  told  them  that  I  never  let  my- 
self be  seen  in  them,  but  always  wore  a  cloak. 

I  inclose  in  this  $5  [Mex.]  which  I  have  just  remem- 
bered to  send  you,  and,  if  you  can,  send  us  fruits,  such 
as  apples,  China  oranges,  and  chestnuts,  to  send  our 
brothers.     Do  not  send  us  much. 

Thine,  Maria. 


[From  Juliana  to  Sixto  Lopez,  at  Hong-Kong.] 

Manila,  January  21,  1902. 

Dear  Brother  :  I  am  much  astonished  at  what  you 
say  in  your  letter  of  the  17th,  which  I  received  this 
morning,  that  you  have  had  no  news  from  us,  for  both 
Mariano  and  I  wrote  you  often,  telling  you  all  that 
occurred  to  our  family.  You  should  know  that  we 
directed  everything  that  we  wrote  to  Seiior  Jose  M.  Basa, 
so  that  he  in  turn  might  give  them  to  Mr.  Russell,  since 
Basa  told  me  that  I  should  send  to  you  in  that  way,  and 
that  you  had  agreed  to  it ;  so  you  can  ask  Basa  about 
them,  and  if  they  have  not  gone  astray  he  will  give  you 
at  least  six  of  my  letters.  .  .   . 

[Repetition  of  facts  stated  in  above-mentioned  letters.] 


loo       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

We  have  done  and  are  doing  everything  possible 
so  that  our  brothers  shall  not  suffer  much,  but,  as 
you  will  understand,  we  are  very  much  afflicted  by 
these  false  accusations,  for  if  Bell  really  believes  this, 
what  shall  we  do  and  how  shall  we  get  so  many  guns, 
seeing  that  we  have  already  given  them  all  up  ?  Believe 
me,  we  are  in  despair,  because  they  will  pay  no  attention 
to  the  explanations  we  make,  but  on  the  contrary  they 
Hsten  to  and  believe  our  enemies,  who  do  not  weary  of 
making  false  accusations,  so  that  only  God  knows  where 
these  calamities  will  end. 

We  all  believe  that  Bell  was  influenced,  as  Colonel 
Bullard  was  not,  by  a  copy  of  a  biography  of  Cipriano 
captured  from  a  Nationalist  officer,  in  which  it  was  stated 
that  Cipriano  had  a  well-organized  battalion  with  400 
guns,  and  that  he  had  been  raised  to  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-colonel  because  of  the  services  which  he  had 
rendered,  and  because  his  family  had  lost  $600,000  in 
the  insurrection  of  1896.  This  capture  was  before  the 
surrender  of  Cipriano.  General  Malvar  sent  this  biog- 
raphy to  Cipriano  to  flatter  him,  for  it  exaggerated  in 
saying  that  Cipriano  had  so  many  guns  and  other  sup- 
pHes.  Therefore,  when  he  surrendered,  although  these 
guns  were  demanded  of  him,  Bullard  had  to  be  satisfied 
with  this  explanation,  that  Malvar  exaggerated,  because 
this  biography  was  to  have  been  published  in  Filipmas 
Ante  Eiiropa.  Besides,  when  Cipriano  surrendered,  he 
did  not  wish  to  answer  for  the  surrender  of  his  compan- 
ions, but  only  for  himself,  and  notwithstanding,  as 
Bullard  and  Gale  of  the  Fourth  Cavalry  begged  his  help 
and  influence  in  overcoming  those  who  still  remained  in 
the  field,  he  agreed  to  help  them  and  succeeded  in 
pacifying  all  the  territory  which  was  under  his  com- 
mand. 

According  to  letters  from  Andrea,  she  is  still  in  good 
health  and  complains  of  no  discourtesy  on  the  part  of  the 
Americans.  For  about  a  week,  since  the  surrender  of 
the  Taals,  the  reconcentrados  in  our   town   have  been 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       loi 

allowed  to  go  out  of  the  village  to  work  and  to  harvest 
the  rice  in  the  lowlands,  which,  as  you  will  remember,  is 
cut  at  this  season  ;  the  crushing  of  the  sugar  has  also 
begun  in  Ilimalas  and  Caybunga,  where  there  is  a  good 
deal  of  cane.  I  do  not  know  whether  this  is  true,  as 
stated  by  an  official  who  has  just  come  from  there,  but 
as  Andrea  tells  me  the  same  thing  in  her  letters,  I 
believe  it  to  be  a  fact. 

We  are  not  at  all  displeased,  least  of  all  mother,  by 
Clemen's  departure.  On  the  contrary,  the  idea  that  she 
can  accomplish  there  what  we  cannot  here  consoles  us 
much ;  therefore  do  not  be  disturbed  about  it,  .   .  . 

The  steamer  voyages  only  between  the  ports  of 
Batangas,  and  I  was  mistaken  when  I  told  you  that  the 
crew  had  been  taken  prisoners,  for  they  go  with  the  boat 
and  receive  the  same  wages.  That  is  not  so  bad.  Forgive 
me  for  writing  to  you  in  this  way,  but  I  have  such  a 
headache  that  I  cannot  see  clearly  what  I  am  writing, 
and  I  only  do  it  so  that  you  shall  not  accuse  me  of 
indolence. 

Your  most  affectionate  Ninay. 


[From  Juliana  to  SLxto  Lopez,  at  Hong-Kong.] 

Manila,  January  23,  1902. 
Dear  Brother  :  This  is  the  seventh  letter  which  I 
have  written  you,  and  when  you  receive  this  I  suppose 
you  will  have  received  my  previous  ones.  Our  situation 
remains  the  same ;  our  brothers  deported  to  the  island 
of  Talim  and  our  goods  confiscated.  We  have  just  come 
from  the  headquarters  of  the  Department  of  the  North, 
where  we  went  to  see  General  Wheaton  and  ask  for  a 
pass  to  visit  the  prisoners ;  but  unfortunately  he  was 
not  there,  nor  his  adjutant  either,  and  his  interpreter 
told  us  that  he  doubted  whether  a  pass  would  be  granted 
us,  for  General  Wheaton  does  not  wish  to  interfere  in 
questions  which  refer  to  Batangas;  and  that  the  only 


I02       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

person  with  whom  to  deal  was  Bell.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  did  not  wish  to  deal  with  this  gentleman,  be- 
cause, from  what  we  had  been  told,  we  were  afraid  to  go 
to  Batangas  and  expose  ourselves  to  his  treatment. 

From  the  statement  which  I  inclose  you  will  see  that 
Bell  has  a  good  opinion  of  Mariano,  for  the  inclosed  is 
the  answer  to  the  statement  which  the  latter  sent  him 
recounting  his  services  to  the  United  States,  with  the 
aid  of  Lorenzo  and  Cipriano,  when  he  succeeded  in 
pacifying  the  western  towns  of  Laguna  de  Taal,  bring- 
ing about  the  surrender  of  many  who  were  in  the  field. 

We  do  not  know  what  to  do  ;  neither  do  we  know 
about  our  brothers  who  were  taken  away  nine  days 
ago.  Good  news  from  Andrea.  As  you  will  learn  from 
this  statement.  Bell  did  not  clear  up  the  question  of 
our  brothers,  although  Mariano  had  stated  that  except 
through  their  influence  nothing  would  have  been  accom- 
plished. Everything  is  quiet  in  Balayan  and  there  have 
been  no  combats  nor  any  other  trouble. 

Thine,  Ninay. 


[Of  all  the  documents  accompanying  Miss  Lopez's 
petition  for  the  release  of  her  brothers,  the  following 
letter  from  Captain  Curry  was  the  one  that  arrested  the 
President's  attention  and  interest.  "  George  Curry  !  " 
said  the  President,  on  noting  the  signature  ;  "  why,  he 
was  one  of  my  officers  in  the  Rough  Riders.  Anything 
that  George  Curry  has  to  say  is  deserving  of  attention." 

With  such  high  and  deserved  commendation.  Captain 
Curry's  opinions  are  of  special  interest,  and  this  is  what 
he  has  to  say  of  the  Lopez  family  :  "  Manuel  Lopez,  who 
lives  here  in  Manila  with  Mariano,  I  am  satisfied  has 
done  nothing  disloyal,  and  I  am  very  fond  of  Mariano 
Lopez  and  his  family.  I  have  done  what  I  could  to 
secure  the  release  of  their  brothers."  He  states  his 
belief   in  the   innocence  of    the  brothers,  and  of   the 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       103 

charge  against  Cipriano  he  says  :  "  From  all  the  circum- 
stances connected  with  the  case,  I  believe  the  charge  to 
be  a  mistake,  and  so  informed  General  Bell."  This  be- 
lief has  received  full  contirmation  from  several  sources, 
and  indeed,  from  General  Bell  himself.  Nor  is  it  a  mat- 
ter of  wonder  that  Captain  Curry's  opinions  should  prove 
to  be  correct,  notwithstanding  what  Mr.  Magoon  had  to 
say  to  the  contrary.  Caj)tain  Curry  probably  knows 
more  about  the  Filipinos  than  any  other  American  in 
the  Philippines ;  he  has  fought  with  them,  Uved  with 
them,  studied  tnem,  governed  them,  and  won  their  re- 
spect and  admiration.  It  is  therefore  regrettable  that 
Mr.  Magoon  did  not  allow  himself  to  be  guided  by 
Captain  Curry's  evidence.  It  is  true  that  General  Bell 
was,  as  Mr.  Magoon  points  out,  nearer  the  scene  of  oper- 
ations as  regards  two  of  the  brothers,  but  General  Bell 
was  a  principal  and  not  a  witness,  —  the  issue  being 
between  him  and  Miss  Lopez,  who  had  appealed  against 
his  acts  to  the  highest  ofificial  authority.  Captain  Curry, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  an  impartial  witness  between  the 
two,  and  his  position,  experience,  and  reputation  ought 
to  have  turned  the  scales  in  Miss  Lopez's  favor.  Yet 
while  Captain  Curry,  satisfied  of  the  innocence  of  the 
Lopez  brothers,  was  doing  what  he  could  to  secure  their 
release,  Mr.  Magoon,  who  —  to  use  his  own  words  when 
speaking  of  an  opponent  — "  had  persisted  in  keeping  a 
large  segment  of  the  earth's  circumference  between  him- 
self and  actual  hostilities,"  was  preparing  a  recommend- 
ation that  the  plea  for  their  release  be  denied ! 

Such  is,  and  ever  will  be,  the  essential  character  of 
government  by  a  foreign  and  distant  power.  It  was  so 
during  American  colonial  days,  when  such  decisions  were 
given,  not  in  accordance  with  fact  or  merit,  but  in  the 
interests  of  some  home  policy  before  which  everything 
else  had  to  yield.  It  confirms  the  wisdom  of  Natalio 
Lopez  in  teaching  his  children  that  "they  could  not  live 
an  honest  life  and  escape  tribulation  as  long  as  the 
source  of  authority  was  in  a  foreign  land."     It  also  con- 


104      STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

firms  the  truth  of  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott's  dictum  that 
"  Whenever,  wherever,  and  howsoever  this  divine  order 
[the  right  of  man  as  man  to  govern  himself]  is  violated, 
the  result  is  always  disastrous." 

But  Captain  Curry's  letter  deals  with  a  question  of 
wider  importance  :  "  All  the  trouble  in  Manila,"  he  says, 
"is  in  that  part  of  the  city  where  the  saloons  flourish 
and  the  American  element  live,  as  the  natives  who  live 
in  the  barrios  give  very  little  trouble  and  are  easy  to 
control."  Captain  Curry  has  frequently  said  that  with 
two  hundred  out  of  the  one  thousand  police  under  his 
charge  he  would  undertake  to  keep  order  among  the 
entire  native  population  of  Manila,  if  any  one  else  would 
undertake,  with  the  remaining  eight  hundred  police,  to 
keep  order  among  the  foreign  population.*  This  state- 
ment has  a  two-fold  significance :  first,  it  confirms  Presi- 
dent Schurman's  declaration  that  the  Filipinos  "are 
naturally  and  normally  peaceful,  docile,  and  deferential 
to  constituted  authority,"  and  that  "  they  possess  admi- 
rable domestic  and  personal  virtues"  ;  and  secondly,  it 
shows,  as  has  frequently  been  predicted,  that  those  at- 
tracted to  the  Philippines  for  adventure  or  exploitation 
are  generally  of  an  undesirable  class.  Further  confir- 
mation of  this  is  furnished  by  a  recent  dispatch  from 
Manila  which  tells  how,  when  Governor  Taft  convened 


*  In  an  interview  published  in  the  Boston  Evening  Transcript,  May 
13,  1903,  the  Hon.  Henry  C.  Ide,  of  the  present  Philippine  Commission, 
says  :  "  I  ought  to  say  here  that  Manila  has  a  record  for  less  crimes  of 
violence  than  any  American  city  of  the  same  size  can  show.  It  is  an 
orderly  and  well-governed  city.  One  of  the  latest  copies  of  the  Manila 
Times  which  has  reached  me  in  this  country  noted  the  fact  that  there 
was  not  a  prisoner  in  the  city  awaiting  trial ;  the  courts  were  disgusted 
because  they  had  nothing  to  do.  Do  you  know  of  any  other  city  of 
300,000  inhabitants  that  could  show  the  same  clean  page  ?  Most  of  the 
credit  for  this  condition  is  due  to  the  character  of  the  Filipino  himself. 
Taking  him  by  and  large,  he  makes  an  excellent  citizen.  He  is  peaceful 
and  law  abiding,  not  quarrelsome  of  disposition,  but  regardful  of  the 
rights  of  others,  mindful  of  his  own  business,  and  inclined  to  be  on 
pleasant  terms  with  his  neighbors.  An  assault  by  a  Filipino  upon  an 
American  is  almost  unknown."  [W^ould  that  the  converse  also  could 
be  said.] 


STORY    OF    THK    LOPEZ    FAMILY       105 

a  conference  of  the  prcsidentes  of  twenty-two  towns  in 
the  province  of  Cavite,  to  urge  them  to  work  for  the 
supi^ression  of  the  ladrones,  he  was  met  with  the  counter 
request  of  the  prcsidentes  that  they  be  given  "  a  va- 
grancy law  that  would  reach  dissolute  American  advent- 
urers and  discharged  soldiers,  whose  influence  was  very 
bad." 

Few  persons  realize  how  great  are  the  evils  which 
always  accompany  attempts  to  spread  our  particular 
form  of  civilization  among  what  we  proudly  regard  as 
inferior  races.  The  vices  which  the  dregs  of  our  own 
civilization  carry  to  such  peoples  have,  without  excep- 
tion, annulled  whatever  good  the  philanthropist  may 
have  accomplished.  Yet  we  persist  in  these  attempts, 
and  are  ever  ready  to  repeat  the  same  disastrous  experi- 
ments. F'ortunately,  the  Filipinos,  though  they  may 
have  vices  of  their  own,  do  not  take  kindly  to  those  of 
the  white  man.  In  this  they  stand  in  marked  contrast 
to  other  alien  races.  Thus,  says  President  Schurman  : 
"  I  have  never  seen  a  Filipino  drunkard.  They  will  take 
a  small  wine-glass  of  liquor,  and  be  content  with  that ; 
and  this  temperance  in  drink  is  characteristic  of  their 
moderation  in  many  other  things.  Probably  no  one 
thing  has  damaged  the  American  people  in  the  eyes  of 
the  natives  more  than  this  great  vice  of  ours  of  indulg- 
ing too  freely  in  drink."  Commissioner  Ide  adds  his 
testimony,  in  the  following  words  :  "  The  Filipino  is 
always  polite  and  always  temperate.  This  seems  like  a 
sweeping  statement,  but  it  is  a  fact  that  in  the  three 
years  that  I  have  spent  in  the  Islands  I  have  seen  only 
two  drunken  natives.  I  do  not  see  the  natives  going 
into  or  coming  out  of  the  saloons,  so  I  do  not  believe 
they  patronize  them.  The  Filipino  drinks  his  vino, 
which  you  have  doubtless  heard  described  as  a  very 
deadly  beverage.  But  vino  is  a  cordial  or  liqueur,  and 
is  drunk  by  the  Filipinos  as  our  people  drink  liqueurs  — 
that  is,  in  tiny  glasses,  and  very  little  at  a  time.  It  is 
a  stimulant,  and  supplies  that  want  for  the  Filipino  in 


io6       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

the  moderate  degree  that  suits  his  taste.  It  got  its  bad 
name  from  the  way  our  soldiers  fell  to  drinking  it. 
They  took  it  as  they  would  take  whiskey.  They  found 
it  a  cheap  drink,  and  exhilarating,  and  drinking  it  in  the 
quantities  that  they  did  they  suffered  serious  injuries 
from  its  effect  upon  the  brain.  Many  of  them  have 
been  made  insane  and  sent  back  to  asylums  in  this 
country.  Many  others  are  in  our  hospitals  in  the  Islands 
—  victims,  not  so  much  of  the  vino  habit,  as  of  the 
immoderate  use  of  a  stimulant  intended  to  be  taken 
by  the  thimbleful.  I  have  attended  dinners  and  other 
social  festivities  given  by  Filipinos,  and  have  been  struck 
by  their  marked  temperance.  They  serve  wine  .of  the 
kinds  and  in  the  quantities  to  which  other  nationalities 
are  accustomed,  out  of  hospitality  to  their  guests,  but 
they  drink  almost  none  themselves.  It  is  a  sign  of  their 
extraordinary  conservatism  that,  in  spite  of  all  that  the 
Filipinos  have  seen  going  on  about  them  since  the  Ameri- 
cans came  into  the  Islands,  they  do  not  seem  to  be 
acquiring  our  whiskey  -  drinking  habit."  {Transcript, 
Boston,  May  13,  1903.)  "A  sign  of  conservatism"  !  Is 
it  conservatism  to  avoid  falling  into  the  bad  habits  of 
others .?  Is  the  Filipino  never  to  be  given  credit  for 
personal  virtue  ?  —  But,  to  return  to  Captain  Curry's 
letter: — ] 


Department  of  Police,  Central  Office, 

Manila,  P.  I.,  January  25,  1902. 
Mr.  FisKE  Warren, 

Boston,  Mass. 
My  Dear  Sir  :  Yours  of  recent  date  at  hand  and 
contents  noted.  In  reply,  will  say  that  the  three  Lopez 
brothers  are  still  under  arrest.  They  are  confined,  to- 
gether with  a  large  number  of  other  military  prisoners, 
on  an  island  in  the  Laguna  de  Bay.  I,  of  course,  do 
not  know  just  what  the  military  have  against  the  Lopez 
brothers  who  live  in  Batangas,  but  Manuel  Lopez,  who 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       107 

lives  in  Manila  with  Mariano,  I  am  satisfied  has  done 
nothing  disloyal,  and  I  am  very  fond  of  Mariano  Lopez 
and  his  family.  I  have  done  what  I  could  to  secure  the 
release  of  their  brothers,  and  I  feel  satisfied  that  as  soon 
as  peace  is  established  in  Batangas,  which  now  appears 
to  be  a  question  of  a  few  weeks,  as  the  insurgents  are 
fast  surrendering,  they  will  be  liberated  and  their  prop- 
erty restored  to  them.  These  harsh  measures  were 
believed  by  General  Bell  to  be  necessary ;  and  whereas 
I  differ  with  him  as  to  the  guilt  of  the  Lopez  brothers, 
they  are  undoubtedly  suffering  largely  on  account  of 
their  brother,  Sixto  Lopez.  As  you  realize  the  situation 
yourself  very  fully,  you  can  understand. 

The  Lopez  girls  have  been  up  to  see  me  frequently, 
and  I  have  treated  them  with  the  utmost  courtesy,  as 
I  really  feel  very  much  attached  to  them.  They,  like 
other  Filipino  families  that  I  have  gotten  very  well  ac- 
quainted with,  improve  on  acquaintance.  They  are  very 
loyal  to  their  friends,  and  I  have  only  regretted  that  I 
could  do  so  little  to  assist  them.  But,  as  I  stated  before, 
I  feel  satisfied  from  what  General  Wheaton  tells  me 
that  these  parties  will  all  soon  be  released. 

Cipriano  Lopez,  the  eldest  brother,  is  accused  by  Gen- 
eral Bell  of  having  knowledge  of  a  large  number  of  arms, 
which,  from  all  the  circumstances  connected  with  the 
case,  I  believe  to  be  a  mistake,  and  so  informed  General 
Bell ;  but  General  Bell  differs  with  me  and  appears  sin- 
cerely to  believe  that  Lopez  is  doing  all  he  can  to  under- 
mine the  Government.* 

Conditions  in  Manila  are  steadily  improving.  My 
native  police  are  all  being  taught  English  and  are  learn- 
ing very  fast.  The  city  limits  have  been  extended  to 
take  in  some  of  the  smaller  towns,  and  I  am  now  organ- 
izing police  in  those  places,  but  anticipate  very  little 


*  This  belief,  which  doubtless  was  based  on  the  reports  of  Manuel 
Ramirez  and  Captain  Cheever,  was  finally  abandoned  by  General  Bell  — 
as  is  evidenced  by  his  subsequent  treatment  of  Cipriano. 


io8       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

trouble.  In  fact,  all  the  trouble  in  Manila  is  in  the  part 
of  the  city  where  the  saloons  flourish  and  the  American 
element  live,  as  the  natives  who  live  in  the  barrios  give 
very  little  trouble  and  are  easy  to  control. 

I  feel  confident  that  Governor  Taft  will  present  mat- 
ters in  such  a  way  at  Washington  as  will  secure  some 
necessary  legislation  and  a  permanent  peace  for  these 
people,  whom  I  really  like,  and  would  like  to  do  some- 
thing to  better  their  condition. 

I  would  be  pleased  to  hear  from  you  at  any  time.  I 
sincerely  hope  that  if  you  visit  Washington  you  will 
consult  with  Governor  Taft ;  I  know,  if  you  meet  once 
and  talk  with  him,  you  will  be  convinced  of  his  sincerity 
and  kind  feeling  toward  the  Filipino  people. 

With  kindest  regards,  I  remain,  yours,  very  truly, 

George  Curry. 


[The  two  following  letters  from  Juliana  tell  of  many 
things  which  do  not  require  comment  or  explanation ; 
but  one  sentence  of  hers  gives  a  clue  to  what  may  have 
contributed  to  the  unfounded  suspicion  as  to  the  "kind 
and  character  "  of  her  correspondence  with  her  brother. 
In  the  second  of  these  letters  Juliana  says  to  Sixto: 
"The  truth  is,  I  do  not  know  under  what  address  to 
write  you,  for  if  I  use  your  own  name  ...  I  am  afraid 
that  it  would  be  sufficient  reason  for  arresting  me,  be- 
cause of  being  in  communication  with  an  '  insurgent,'  as 
they  call  you  !  "  Such  was  the  suspicion  then  existing  in 
Manila  that  if  Juliana  had  sent  a  copy  of  the  Lord's  prayer 
addressed  to  Sixto  Lopez,  one  of  the  secret-service 
police  would  have  reported  the  fact  at  headquarters. 
It  was  not  that  Juliana  had  anything  to  communicate  to 
Sixto  Lopez,  or  he  to  her,  of  a  seditious  or  compromis- 
ing nature ;  it  was  the  mere  fact  of  communicating  with 
her  brother  that  was  the  ground  of  suspicion.  Even  Vice- 
Governor  Wright,  whom  many  regard  as  a  fair-minded 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       109 

man,  is  reported  to  have  said  that  Mariano  Lopez  had 
"  lost  the  good  opinion  that  the  authorities  had  had  of 
him,  on  account  of  Sixto  Lopez  and  his  friends."] 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  January  29,  1902. 

Dearest  Clemen  :  This  is  the  second  letter  which 
I  have  written  you  in  answer  to  the  two  you  sent  me 
from  Singapore  and  Penang,  and  which  I  received  a  little 
while  ago,  together  with  a  letter  from  our  very  dear 
friend.  We  are  very  happy  over  the  news  and  the 
impressions  of  your  journey  which  you  sent  us,  and  are 
grateful  to  the  passengers  who  went  with  you  for  the 
kindness  which  they  showed  you.  It  has  lessened  the 
sadness  with  which  we  are  all  weighed  down  to  know 
that  you  are  well  and  resigned.  As  for  us,  thank  God, 
we  all  continue  in  good  health,  including  mother,  who, 
in  spite  of  the  gravity  of  our  situation,  is  resigned,  as 
are  our  three  imprisoned  brothers.  They  were  deported 
to  the  island  of  Talim  with  a  number  of  others  from  the 
province  of  Batangas.  You  can  see  how  changed  the 
Americans  are  toward  our  family  by  the  following  inci- 
dent :  The  other  day  we  went  to  ask  for  a  pass  to  visit 
our  brothers.  The  island  where  they  now  are  is  not 
more  than  five  or  at  least  six  hours'  journey  from  Manila, 
but  they  would  not  grant  us  the  pass,  giving  as  an 
excuse  that  they  could  not  interfere  in  matters  concern- 
ing which  only  Bell  could  decide. 

We  go  continually  from  bad  to  worse.  We  get  news 
from  Balayan  that,  in  spite  of  its  tranquillity  and  peace- 
ful attitude,  they  continue  to  arrest  all  those  whom  they 
believe  have  guns.  In  my  previous  letter  I  told  you 
that  several  of  our  superintendents  were  imprisoned,  as 
they  were  believed  to  be  the  guardians  of  the  fifty  guns 
which  it  was  supposed  Cipriano  failed  to  present  when 
he  surrendered.  As  you  know,  there  are  not  and  cannot 
be  any  proofs  of  these  accusations.     Simply  because  of 


no   STORY  OF  THE  LOPEZ  FAMILY 

denunciations  they  have  been  imprisoned  up  to  the  pres- 
ent time  and  will  continue  so.  At  the  same  time,  not 
only  are  they  imprisoned,  but  they  are  subjected  to  all 
kinds  of  torture,  so  that  finally  one  of  them,  poor  Isabelo 
(may  his  soul  rest  in  peace),  the  superintendent  of  Calan, 
succumbed  and  died  from  the  effect  of  all  the  blows  and 
beatings  which  were  given  him  to  make  him  produce  the 
guns. 

Seeing  this,  Emiliana,  wife  of  Gregorio  (who  denied 
the  existence  of  these  guns),  managed  in  some  way,  I 
know  not  how,  to  get  hold  of  three  guns,  which  she 
surrendered  to  obtain  the  liberation  of  her  husband. 
Indeed,  we  were  utterly  puzzled  as  to  where  this  woman 
could  have  obtained  them,*  and  instead  of  bettering  her 
unhappy  condition  she  has  only  made  it  worse. 

As  for  Andrea,  she  is  well  and  occupies  the  entresol 
of  the  house,  as  the  upper  rooms  are  occupied  by  the 
soldiers.  They  have  offered  to  give  her  a  pass  to  come 
to  Manila,  but  she  will  not  do  so,  as  she  does  not  wish 
to  leave  everything  in  the  hands  of  others.  They  have 
also  asked  her  about  the  guns,  and  finally  they  asked 
her  to  help  to  find  them.  You  can  imagine  how  she 
would  answer  them  ! 

You  ask  me  about  our  supposed  friends  in  Balayan. 
What  a  disillusion !  It  seems  that  they  only  called 
themselves  friends  so  that  they  might  injure  us  after- 
wards. Here  in  Manila  astonishment  is  expressed  that 
they  have  not  been  able  to  defend  us,  for  if  they  had 
done  so  our  brothers  would  not  be  where  they  are.  The 
only  one  who  seems  really  to  be  our  friend  and  who  is 
sorry  for  what  has  happened  is  Lieutenant  Raymond, 
but  the  others,  up  to  the  present  time,  still  continue  the 
work  of  injuring  us.  For  my  part  I  feel  a  great  deal  of 
resentment  toward  them,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  any 


*  Sixto  Lopez  is  of  opinion  that  this  unfortunate  woman  was  supplied 
with  these  guns  by  Manuel  Ramirez,  in  order  to  give  color  to  the  accu- 
sation about  the  fifty  guns  alleged  to  have  been  held  back  by  Cipriano. 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       iii 

reconciliation  will  be  possible  between  them  and  us. 
Believe  me,  Clemen,  if  we  did  not  hope  for  good  re- 
sults from  your  efforts  in  America,  we  should  die  of 
sorrow.  Therefore,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  many  dis- 
approve of  your  going,  I  am  convinced  that  you  will 
accomplish  there  what  we  have  not  been  able  to  accom- 
plish here. 

I  beg  of  you,  do  not  show  this  letter  to  any  one,  even 
to  our  friend,  for  its  appearance  is  disgraceful.  I  send 
it  to  you  by  a  friend  of  Macaria's,  who  belongs  in 
Boston,  and  who  starts  to-morrow  for  the  United  States  ; 
therefore  I  write  you  in  haste.  Tell  our  friend  that 
some  other  day  I  will  write,  telling  him  many  things. 

Regards  from  everybody,  and  a  kiss  from 

NiNAY. 


[From  Juliana  to  Sixto  Lopez,  at  Hong-Kong.] 

Manila,  January  30,  1902. 

Dear  Brother  :   We  have  finally  found  a  friend  by 

whom  to  send  you  this  letter,  for  I  am  afraid  you  have 

not  received  my  previous  ones  and  that  they  are  really 

lost.     Some  of  these  letters  I  sent  you  under  the  name 

of in  the  house  of ,   and  the   last    two 

to to  give  to  Clemen  and  Mariquita.     You  would 

understand  that  they  were  mine  to  you,  as  it  would  be 
absurd  to  suppose  that  they  were  for  those  to  whom 
they  were  addressed,  seeing  that  I  know  perfectly  well 
that  the  former  has  gone  far  away  and  that  the  latter  has 
been  here  for  weeks.  The  truth  is,  I  do  not  know  under 
what  address  to  write  you,  for  if  I  use  your  own  name, 
which  is  as  well  known  here  as  mine  in  Balayan,  I  am 
afraid  that  it  would  be  sufficient  reason  for  arresting  me, 
because  of  being  in  communication  with  an  "insurgent," 
as  they  call  you  !  Since  Mariquita  arrived  I  have  received 
no  letter  from  you  except  one  dated  the  17th,  and,  as 
you  will  understand,  I  am  impatient  to  know  some  things 
about  which  I  asked  you.   .  .  . 


112       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

From  the  last  news  from  Balayan  I  know  that  the 
town  continues  tranquil,  as  always;  nevertheless,  they 
are  continuing  to  arrest  our  superintendents  to  force  them 
to  produce  the  imaginary  guns  which  they  say  are  being 
kept  back.  As  is  natural,  the  poor  things  deny  every- 
thing, for,  indeed,  they  do  not  know  what  guns  are  spoken 
of,  and  for  this  reason  they  (the  Americans)  are  torturing 
them,  giving  them  thousands  of  blows,  whipping  and 
beating  them,  so  that  finally  one  of  them  died  —  the 
Americans  and  Macabebes  beat  him  so  much.  He  was 
called  Isabelo,  and  was  the  superintendent  at  Calan. 
It  has  amazed  me  that  they  should  have  taken  such 
measures,  considering  that  they  are  so  civilized  a  nation 
and  boast  all  over  the  world  wherever  they  go  of  their 
humane  acts. 

The  death  of  our  superintendent  has  saddened  us  very 
much,  all  the  more  because  he  was  one  of  those  in  whom 
our  brothers  had  confidence,  and  we  all  liked  him.  When 
I  heard  this  news  I  could  not  sleep  all  night  for  thinking 
that  perhaps  this  unfortunate  man  was  martyred  because 
he  would  not  say  anything  against  us,  and  so  they  killed 
him.  On  the  other  hand,  the  wife  of  the  superintendent 
at  Dao,  whose  husband  was  imprisoned,  sought  some  way 
of  liberating  him,  and,  nobody  knows  how,  got  hold  of 
three  guns  with  which  to  buy  the  freedom  of  her  hus- 
band, and  surrendered  them,  but  they  would  not  give 
him  his  freedom  for  that,  but,  on  the  contrary,  demanded 
more  and  more,  and  his  situation  was  all  the  worse.  I 
cannot  tell  you  about  this  in  detail  as  I  have  not  yet 
received  a  letter  from  Andrea,  The  prisoners  continue 
in  good  health,  as  well  as  the  rest  of  us  here.    Good-bye. 

NiNAY. 


["  It  has  amazed  me  that  they  should  have  taken  such 
measures,  considering  that  they  are  so  civilized  a  nation." 
Has  it  come  to  this  at  last  ?  Civilization  rebuked  for  its 
barbarity,  —  and  by  those  whom  it  would  civilize! 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       113 

'•  Do  the  dead  know  and  weep  o'er  the  acts  of  the  living  ?" 
Then  must  Washington  be  shedding  tears  in  heaven. 


In  the  three  following  letters  Maria's  youth  proclaims 
itself  in  its  quaintness  and  directness  :  "  They  have 
arrested  4  of  our  most  trusted  superintendents,"  who 
were  tortured,  "so  much  so  that  i  of  them  has  died." 
The  use  of  the  numerals,  in  such  a  connection,  reminds 
one  of  Artemus  Ward. 

Maria  apparently  does  not  approve  of  those  who  are 
entrusted  with  the  task  of  benevolent  assimilation : 
"  What  vile  men  !  I  never  want  to  see  them  again ;  I 
hate  them  all !  "  Youth  has  a  habit  of  setting  forth  its 
opinions  without  any  qualification.  But  perhaps  Maria 
says  plainly  what  many  an  older  head  may  think  but  dare 
not  express.  Sometimes,  however,  Maria  speaks  in  the 
language  of  the  "  older  head  "  :  "  It  is  evident,"  she  says, 
"that  we  shall  not  be  safe  while  there  is  one  Filipino 
struggling  for  independence."  This  is  the  language  of  the 
Russian  or  of  the  Polish  patriot  despairing  of  the  liberty 
of  his  fatherland.  And  that  this  should  be  said  of  any 
spot  of  earth  over  which  "  Old  Glor)^ "  flaps  in  the  morn- 
ing breeze !  —  No  safety  while  there  is  one  struggling 
for  independence !] 


[From  Maria  to  SLxto  Lopez,  at  Hong-Kong.] 

Manila,  January  30,  1902. 

Dear  Brother  :  We  have  received  only  one  letter 

from  you  since  I  arrived  here,  —  dated  the   17th;   and 

we  are  much  puzzled  at  not   receiving  another  telling 

us  whether  you  have  yet  received  all  our  letters.     The 

last   one  we  wrote  you   was   directed   to   Don  

to  be  given  to  the  Seiioritas  Clemencia  and  Maria,  and 
I  don't  know  whether  he  has  given  it  to  you.     This 


114      STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

address  occurred  to  us  because  we  did  not  know  to 
whom  else  to  direct  it  so  that  you  might  receive  it 
promptly.  We  directed  the  others  to  the  house  of 
Don  ,  with  the  name  of . 

Concerning  our  brothers,  I  can  tell  you  nothing  more 
than  that  they  are  well,  and  I  believe  that,  as  time 
passes,  the  authorities  have  less  and  less  any  idea  of 
giving  them  their  liberty ;  for  they  say  that  Cipriano 
failed  to  surrender  50  guns.  They  have  arrested  4  of 
our  most  trusted  superintendents,  demanding  from  them 
the  50  guns.  These  superintendents  do  not  possess  the 
guns,  yet  they  are  being  tortured  —  so  much  so  that  i 
of  them  has  died. 

Mariano  continues  working  for  our  brothers,  but  he 
accomplishes  nothing,  for  they  tell  him  that  everything 
depends  upon  General  Bell.  I  am  sorry  for  all  this  on 
mother's  account,  for  you  cannot  imagine  how  it  makes 
me  despair  to  see  her  weep.  I  fear  everything  for  her, 
for  she  spends  whole  days  weeping,  thinking  of  our 
brothers,  and  that,  as  you  know,  may  do  her  much  harm 
at  her  age.  We  thought  of  asking  for  a  pass  this  week 
so  that  we  could  visit  them  in  the  island  of  Talim,  only 
that  mother  might  be  convinced  that  they  are  well,  and 
be  more  contented,  but  friends  have  advised  us  that  we 
ought  not  to  go  there,  seeing  that  there  are  no  houses, 
and  the  boat  only  goes  once  a  week. 

I  do  not  know  whether  I  can  send  you  this  letter  by 

Dr. .     They  say  that  he  is  the  doctor  of   the 

steamer.  We  ourselves  will  go  to  his  house  and  beg 
him  to  deliver  this  letter,  and  at  the  same  time  ask  how 
you  are.  His  wife  is  a  friend  of  ours,  and  it  may  com- 
promise him  to  take  you  this  letter.  I  am  not  telling 
you  about  things,  because  Ninay  is  writing  to  you  also, 
and  she  can  do  it  much  better  than  I ;  at  the  last 
moment  she  decided  to  write  to  you,  for  she  had  been 
writing  to  Clemen. 

A  soldier  from  Balayan,  a  friend  of  Macaria's,  who 
goes  back  to  America  to-morrow,  offered  to  take  her 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       115 

letter  to  Clemen  ;  he  says  he  lives  in  Boston.  Ninay 
accepted  his  offer  with  pleasure,  for  she  fears  that 
Clemen  does  not  receive  her  letters  by  post.  We  have 
now  received  letters  from  her,  one  from  Singapore  and 
another  from  Penang.  She  tells  us  how  delightful  it  is 
to  travel,  and  that  if  she  were  not  always  thinking  of 
her  brothers  she  would  consider  herself  very  happy.  I 
do  hope  that  when  you  receive  this  you  will  be  in  good 
health,  as  we  all  are,  thank  God.  Regards  to  everybody, 
and  remember  that  you  are  loved  and  not  forgotten  by 
Your  sister,  Maria. 


[From  Maria  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  February  6,  1902. 

Dear  Clemen  :  Forgive  me  that  I  have  not  written 
to  you  until  now,  but  you  know  how  hard  it  is  for  me  to 
write  and  how  idle  I  am;  all  the  more  because  I  have 
no  good  news  to  tell  you,  for  our  brothers  are  still  pris- 
oners. We  realize  more  and  more  the  gravity  of  our 
situation.  All  those  to  whom  we  apply  for  help  in 
obtaining  the  liberation  of  our  brothers  make  us  prom- 
ises at  first,  but  afterwards  tell  us  that  they  can  do 
nothing ;  and  this  has  just  happened  to  us  once  more. 
The  private  secretary  of  General  Chaffee,  who  promised 
us  so  much,  and  even  set  the  day  when  our  brothers 
should  be  freed,  has  also  lost  heart  now  that  he  has 
talked  with  General  Bell. 

Mr.  Curry,  our  best  friend,  also  talked  with  him,  but 
without  result,  since  he  demands  an  impossibility  —  that 
the  50  guns  which  Cipriano  is  charged  with  having  failed 
to  present  when  he  surrendered  should  first  be  given 
up.  We  are  in  despair.  Yesterday  we  received  a 
letter  from  our  brothers,  and  they  say  they  are  very 
badly  off,  for  they  spend  the  day  in  the  sun,  acting  as 
overseers  to  the  other  prisoners,  and  they  are  given  very 
bad  food  and  little  of  it.     They  are  treated  as  if  they 


ii6       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

were  criminals.  The  man  wlio  brought  us  the  letter  had 
to  talk  with  them  sub  rosa,  for  they  say  that  they  are 
very  closely  watched.  Poor  Lorenzo  !  I  feel  the  worst 
on  his  account,  and  we  do  not  know  what  to  do.  When 
we  went  to  the  offices  of  Generals  Chaffee  and  Wheaton, 
where  we  only  succeeded  in  speaking  with  the  adjutants, 
we  always  got  the  same  answer  —  that  these  generals 
did  not  wish  to  interfere  with  the  affairs  of  Bell  in 
Batangas.  What  vile  men  !  I  never  want  to  see  them 
again  ;  I  hate  them  all ! 

Four  days  ago  we  sent  our  brothers  canned  food 
and  some  other  things  which  they  needed,  such  as  beds 
to  sleep  in,  —  thanks  to  a  soldier  who  promised  to  take 
them.  We  do  not  send  them  money,  for  they  are  not 
allowed  to  have  any.  What  they  had  with  them  when 
they  were  arrested  was  taken  from  them.  Now  more 
than  ever  we  are  glad  that  you  went  to  America,  for 
we  have  seen  that  indeed  there  is  no  justice  here.  God 
grant  that  you  obtain  it  there,  for  you  are  our  only  hope. 
What  evil  days,  Clemen,  we  have  passed  and  are  passing 
through  now ;  and  how  much  we  think  of  you. 

I  suppose  you  are  still  thinking  that  I  am  in  Hong- 
Kong,  where  you  left  me,  but  I  have  been  here  a 
month,  having  returned  with  Consuelo.  ...  I  was  very 
sorry  to  leave  Hong-Kong  while  Sixto  was  still  there. 
If  you  could  have  seen  how  I  cried  !  —  and  he  was  sorry 
too  and  did  not  want  to  let  me  go.  .  .  .  The  days  there 
were  delightful,  because  Sixto  was  very  kind  and  good 
to  me.  Almost  every  day  after  dinner  Sixto  took  me  to 
walk  to  places  which  I  had  not  yet  seen,  at  the  same 
time  making  me  tell  him  about  things  that  happened  ten 
years  ago. 

We  also  went  to  the  house  of  Agoncillo  and  Marti, 
who  were  most  kind  to  me,  especially  Dona  Marcela 
[wife  of  Agoncillo],  who  was  very  anxious  that  I  should 
stay  at  her  house.  Of  the  Basa  family  I  have  nothing 
but  praise,  for  they  have  been  very  good  to  me,  especially 
Inez,  who  was  like  a  sister  to  me.     She  helped  me  to 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY        117 

get  ready,  and  the  family  accompanied  me  to  the  steamer 
with  our  Philippine  friends  and  acquaintances.  We 
arrived  here  in  the  "Kosctta"  on  the  7th,  after  a  very 
bad  voyage,  much  worse  than  we  had  going,  and  so  ill 
that  I  could  hardly  stand.  But  we  were  fortunate  in 
having  as  fellow-voyagers  two  Spaniards,  who  were  very 
good  and  looked  after  us  in  every  way.  One  of  them  is 
named  Ramon  Lopez.  He  says  he  was  the  Government 
physician  in  Katangas  and  knows  our  family,  as  he  has 
been  in  Balayan  and  has  stopped  at  our  house. 

The  ship's  doctor,  who  is  a  Japanese,  also  looked  after 
us,  and  was  very  thoughtful,  continually  asking  us  what 
we  wished  to  eat.  I  believe  he  was  sorry  for  us,  seeing 
us  travel  alone,  or  perhaps  Sixto  recommended  us  to  his 
care.  Many  friends  came  out  to  the  boat  to  meet  us, 
almost  all  of  those  who  came  to  see  us  off. 

We  all  continue  well,  including  mother,  although  she 
is  very  unhappy,  even  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  we  do 
not  tell  her  more  than  half  of  what  happens  to  us,  and 
tiy  to  console  her.  Give  our  regards  to  Mr,  Warren 
and  his  wife,  and  kisses  to  the  children  ;  and  receive  a 
warm  embrace  from  your  sister.  Quita. 

[From  Maria  to  Sixto  Lopez.] 

Manila,  February  12,  1902. 
Dear  Brother  :  We  received  your  letters  of  the  26th 
of  last  month  and  the  7th  of  this  with  the  inclosed  copy. 
Ninay  has  not  yet  written  to  the  superintendent  of  tel- 
egraphs, as  he  is  sick  with  measles ;  but  as  soon  as  he 
recovers  she  will  do  so.  As  to  the  telegram  stating  that 
one  of  our  brothers  was  executed,  which  you  say  alarmed 
Clemen  so  much  when  she  read  it  in  the  papers,  one  of 
our  friends  also  told  us  that  the  American  newspapers 
referred  to  it.  We  have  learned  that  the  authorities 
here  have  received  a  letter  from  a  personage  in  America, 
and  this  letter  only  asked  the  motive  for  the  imprison- 


ii8       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

ment  of  our  brothers.  We  do  not  know  the  name  of  the 
writer.  We  all  believe  that  Bell's  visit  to  our  brothers 
was  due  to  your  letter  to  Chaffee,  for  now,  according  to 
letters  which  we  receive  from  Manuel,  they  are  much 
more  considerately  treated,  particularly  Lorenzo,  in  whose 
condition  they  took  a  great  deal  of  interest,  sending  two 
American  physicians,  who  pay  more  attention  to  him  than 
to  any  one  else. 

Are  you  really  persistent  in  coming  ?  Don't  do  it  if 
you  do  not  wish  to  make  our  situation  worse.  Besides, 
mother  sends  you  word  that  if  you  still  wish  to  see  her 
you  are  not  to  come  on  this  occasion,  and  that  she  has 
decided  to  live  anywhere  except  here  in  the  Philippines, 
for  it  is  now  evident  that  we  shall  not  be  safe  while  there 
is  one  Filipino  still  struggling  for  independence.  There- 
fore we  are  only  waiting  until  they  set  our  brothers  free 
in  order  that  we  may  go  to  Hong-Kong  or  some  other 
place  where  nobody  will  interfere  with  us  and  abuse 
our  confidence.  We  attribute  the  imprisonment  of  our 
brothers  to  the  fact  that  you  will  not  come  and  take  the 
oath  of  allegiance ;  and  so  they  are  imprisoned  to  make 
you  come. 

When  the  authorities  speak  to  us  about  this,  although 
they  do  not  do  so  directly,  we  close  their  mouths  by  tell- 
ing them  that  Cipriano  laid  down  his  arms,  trusting  in 
the  promise  of  the  Government  that  they  would  never 
trouble  nor  molest  him  so  long  as  no  clear  proof  against 
him  existed,  and  also  that  our  family  should  enjoy  the 
same  just  immunity  because  we  had  worked  so  hard  for 
his  surrender ;  for  they  declared  that  the  American 
people  do  not  intend  to  oppress  us  as  the  Spaniards  did, 
but  that  rather  we,  as  well  as  all  others  who  did  not  fight 
against  them  treacherously,  should  have  their  protection. 
Therefore  we  hope  that  in  view  of  the  way  they  have 
treated  Cipriano  you  will,  less  than  ever,  consider  taking 
the  oath  of  allegiance.  Ninay  sends  word  for  you  to  tell 
her  the  date  of  your  departure  a  week  before  you  leave 
for  America,  so  that  she  can  send  you  the  native  clothes 


STORY    OF    THi:    LOPEZ    FAMILY       119 

which  you  are  to  take  to  Clemen  to  use  this  summer.  I 
have  received  the  book  which  Mr.  Patterson  sent  me 
and  am  a  thousand  times  obliged  to  him.  We  have  not 
received  the  ph()to^ai)hs  and  the  ornament.  Good-bye, 
many  regards,  and  be  sure  that  you  are  not  forgotten  by 

Maria. 


[**  Or,  is  it  that  the  naked  eye  of  youth 

Sees  all  through  glamour  ;  while,  to  see  the  truth 
Needs  convex  lenses  ?  " 

Certainly,  it  needed  calamity  and  the  convex  lenses  of 
age  to  teach  King  Lear  that  protestations  of  loyalty  and 
love  are  frequently  vain  and  worthless.  Similarly,  to 
compare  great  things  with  smaller,  it  required  calamity 
in  order  to  dissolve  Juliana's  illusion  as  to  those  officers 
who  had  professed  friendship  when  all  the  world  was 
smiling,  but  who  forsook  her  and  her  family  in  the  hour 
of  peril.  And  the  dissolving  of  her  illusion,- — what  a 
change  it  wrought  in  Juliana  herself!  Compare  her 
first  letters  with  the  following  one ;  passionate,  yet 
reasonable  ;  fearless,  yet  prudent ;  withering  in  its  scorn 
of  false  friend,  yet  mindful  of  those  who  had  proved 
true. 

"  Before  all  this  happened,"  writes  Juliana,  "  who  could 
have  believed  that  they  could  be  so  vile  as  to  revenge 
themselves  on  us  who  had  done  nothing  against  them, 
and  were  living  in  confidence,  sure  of  the  friendship 
which  all  the  officers  professed  ?  "  Who,  indeed  ?  But 
friends  differ,  as  do  the  stars  in  magnitude  ;  even  Lear's 
daughters  were  not  all  the  same.  "  I  always  believed 
the  American  officers  to  be  very  just  and  reasonable, 
but  now  I  am  convinced  that  there  is  a  snake  in  every 
bush,  as  the  proverb  says.  They  are  reasonable  when 
it  suits  them."  Or,  was  it  when  the  policy  fcmiittcd 
them.?      Doubtless  the  officers  would    have   been  just 


120       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

and  reasonable  at  all  times  if  the  policy  behind  them 
had  been  just  and  reasonable.  "Oh,  what  outrage!" 
continues  Juliana.  "  If  all  the  Americans  are  like  those 
we  have  here,  who  heartlessly  punish  the  innocent  and 
make  many  families  suffer,  preserve  me  from  them 
and   from  America,  with  all   its  wealth  and  education 

and  desire  to  be  our  protector  in  civilization,  and , 

But  no,  I  want  also  to  be  just ;  I  do  not  want  you 
to  say  that  I  have  forgotten  those  who  are  still  our 
friends  in  spite  of  everything,  and  who  are  doing  every- 
thing in  their  power  for  us."  How  these  words  bring 
the  hot  blood  to  one's  cheek  !  How  the  very  soul  rises 
against  the  policy  that  made  it  possible  for  such  words 
to  be  uttered  !  But  there  is  more,  and  worse :  "  When 
[Lieutenant]  Raymond  was  here  he  came  to  our  house 
two  or  three  times  and  denied  that  any  officer  in 
Balayan  [i.  e.,  any  officer  who  formerly  professed  friend- 
ship for  the  family]  had  anything  to  do  with  the  impris- 
onment of  our  brothers.  I  answered  him  that  it  might 
be  so,  but  that  no  officer  had  taken  the  least  trouble  to 
defend  them."  A  just  reply,  for  friendship  does  not 
stop  at  refraining  from  doing  or  participating  in  a  wrong ; 
it  must  also  put  forth  its  hand  in  defense.  But  Juliana's 
final  reflection  gives  the  climax  to  it  all :  "  This  the 
officers  should  have  done,  not  only  as  good  friends,  but 
still  more  because  military  honor  required  them  to  defend 
the  right."  Humiliating,  is  it  not,  that  a  young  Filipina 
should  have  to  give  the  Anglo-Saxon  a  lesson  in  the 
claims  of  friendship  and  honor  ?  Compare  all  this  with 
those  older  conceptions  of  honor  as  expressed  by  Rod- 
erick Dhu  :  — 

"  It  rests  with  me  to  wind  my  horn,  — 
Thou  art  with  numbers  overborne  ; 
It  rests  with  me,  here,  brand  to  brand. 
Worn  as  thou  art,  to  bid  thee  stand  : 
But,  not  for  clan,  nor  kindred's  cause. 
Will  I  depart  from  honor's  laws."] 


•h|«^|^^^ 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       121 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  February  14,  1902. 
Dearest  Clemen:  I  am  very  sorry  to  tell  you  that 
our  brothers  are  still  prisoners,  and  deported  to  the  little 
island  of  Malagi  [Talim],  and  we  have  no  hope  of  seeing 
them  soon  free  because  of  the  heavy  conditions  laid 
upon  them  in  exchange  for  their  liberty.  By  letters 
which  we  have  received  from  Manuel  we  know  that  they 
are  not  well  treated,  and  that  they  are  made  to  work  in 
the  strong  sun,  being  set  as  foremen  over  the  other 
prisoners,  who  work  like  animals.  They  do  not  com- 
plain so  much  of  the  work  as  of  the  food  and  lodgings, 
the  latter  being,  as  you  know,  nothing  but  field-tents. 
The  poorest  Filipino  has  his  own  little  house,  and  never 
sleeps  on  the  ground,  as  the  rich  men  of  the  capital  of 
Batangas  are  doing  there.  I  am  thankful  that  I  did  not 
give  any  credit  to  what  the  officers  told  me,  that  our 
brothers  would  have  everything,  for  by  way  of  precau- 
tion I  sent  them  immediately  cot-beds,  mosquito-nets, 
and  ever)lhing  they  would  really  need.  I  took  pains 
also  to  send  them  food.  I  got  myself  introduced  to  the 
man  who  has  charge  of  all  the  launches  running  to  that 
island,  so  that  he  might  notify  me  of  their  departure, 
and  in  that  way  my  letters  and  goods  might  arrive 
safely.  This  American  official,  who  seems  to  be  a  good 
sort  of  a  man,  and  who  knew  me  by  reputation,  received 
me  very  well  and  offered  to  do  everything  he  could  on 
his  part.  But  on  the  other  hand,  our  brothers,  in  their 
letters,  beg  me  to  spare  no  efforts  or  money  to  obtain 
their  freedom,  for  they  will  die  if  they  remain  there 
much  longer.  All  these  letters  have  made  us  perfectly 
despairing,  seeing  the  impossibility  of  doing  anything 
for  them.  All  the  valuable  information  and  services 
which  our  brothers  have  given  the  Government  avail 
nothing.  What  the  Americans  want  at  any  cost  is  that 
Sixto  shall  come  and  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  or  that 
fifty  guns  shall  be  presented.     The  matter  of  the  fifty 


122       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

guns  is  simply  an  excuse,  so  that  they  may  appear  to 
have  a  just  reason  for  the  imprisonment  of  our  brothers  ; 
what  they  really  want  and  desire  is  the  person  of  Sixto, 
and  they  believe  that,  compassionating  the  situation  of 
our  family,  he  will  sacrifice  his  ideals  to  save  us. 

They  have  made  a  great  mistake,  for,  according  to 
what  we  hear,  he  is  very  much  grieved  by  it,  but  not  as 
much  as  the  authorities  believe,  —  and  certain  Filipinos 
as  well,  —  who  think  that  the  only  way  to  force  Sixto  to 
come  unconditionally  is  by  the  imprisonment  of  our 
brothers  and  the  confiscation  of  our  goods.  But  what 
I  cannot  understand  is  why  even  our  poor  dependents 
should  suffer  for  the  fault  of  our  brothers.  Being 
required  to  surrender  guns  which  the  poor  things  did 
not  possess,  they  also  have  been  imprisoned  and  are  still 
so.  Isabelo,  of  Calan,  has  died.  After  they  had  beaten 
him  and  could  get  no  confession  from  him  they  took  him 
to  the  river  Matauanak  (Tuy),  and  there  they  left  him, 
drowned  in  the  river.  Ramirez  told  of  this  here  in 
Manila.  Cheever  has  fulfilled  to  the  letter  all  his  vows 
of  vengeance  on  our  family  made  when  his  candidate 
failed  to  be  elected  last  September.  You  do  not  forget 
the  details.  As  little  does  Bell  forget  the  time  when  we 
won  in  the  matter  of  the  cows  last  year,  when,  although 
pledged  to  the  friars,  he  could  do  no  less  than  recognize 
that  the  cows  were  ours.  With  so  many  great  and 
powerful  enemies,  and  the  situation  in  Batangas  what 
it  is,  you  can  imagine  how  the  opportunity  will  be 
improved  to  do  us  harm. 

But  before  all  this  happened  who  could  have  believed 
that  they  could  be  so  vile  as  to  revenge  themselves  on 
us  who  had  done  nothing  against  them,  and  who  were 
living  in  confidence,  sure  of  the  friendship  which  all 
the  officers  professed  ?  It  is  this  confidence  that  has 
ruined  us.  If  we  had  been  distrustful,  they  would  not 
have  caught  us  so  unprepared,  for  not  only  should  we 
have  warned  our  brothers  not  to  stay  in  Balayan,  but 
we  should  have  advised  them  to  leave  the  country,  and 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       123 

then  we  should  be  in  peace  and  should  not  be  spending 
such  bitter  days  as  we  are  now.  Choleng  arrived  a  week 
ago  .  .  .  and  told  me  many  very  sad  things  about  our 
province  which  remind  me  of  the  Spanish  rule.  Mar- 
tyrdoms and  torture  are  being  renewed  in  the  provinces 
where  the  insurrection  still  prevails.  The  father  of  L. 
Luna,  after  incredible  torture,  was  thrown  still  alive  on 
a  fire,  simply  because  his  son  was  an  insurgent  and  he 
had  not  been  able  to  bring  about  his  surrender. 

All  the  wealthy  men  in  Lipa  have  been  made  to  work 
in  the  streets,  and  if  at  the  present  time  they  are  better 
treated,  it  is  only  because  their  sons,  boys  under  eighteen 
years  of  age,  have  volunteered,  and  go  out  always  as 
guides  when  the  American  forces  rcconnoiter ;  and  they 
go  in  the  vanguard  !  In  this  way  they  have  bargained 
so  that  their  fathers  shall  not  again  be  obliged  to  work 
in  the  streets,  carrying  water,  etc.  Not  even  in  the 
time  of  the  Spaniards  were  the  people  of  Batangas  so 
badly  treated  as  they  are  now ;  and  indeed  it  sounds 
strange  to  me  to  hear  such  horrible  news,  for  even 
women  are  deported  simply  for  being  wives  or  daughters 
of  insurgents.  This  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  I  de- 
cided not  to  go  to  Balayan  to  visit  poor  Andrea,  who  is 
all  alone  with  Emilio,  for  I  did  not  wish  to  be  within 
reach  of  Bell,  of  whom  I  have  a  horror,  believing  him 
capable  of  anything.  Before  these  sad  events  hap- 
pened, I  always  believed  the  American  officers  to  be 
very  just  and  reasonable,  but  now  I  am  convinced  that 
there  is  a  snake  in  every  bush,  as  the  proverb  says. 
They  are  reasonable  when  it  suits  them  ;  but  when  it 
is  otherwise,  even  if  you  shriek  and  cry  to  heaven,  they 
pay  no  attention,  merely  saying  by  way  of  consolation 
that  when  peace  is  established  in  our  province  every- 
thing will  be  arranged  and  we  shall  be  content  with  their 
government ;  and  saying  other  things  as  well,  all,  in 
short,  having  little  to  do  with  what  you  ask.  Oh,  what 
outrage !  If  all  the  Americans  are  like  those  we  have 
here,   who  heartlessly  punish  the  innocent  and   make 


124       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

many  families  suffer,  preserve  me  from  them  and  from 
America,  with  all  its  wealth  and  education  and  desire  to 

to  be  our  protector  in  civilization,  and .     But  no,  I 

want  also  to  be  just;  I  do  not  want  you  to  say  that 
I  have  forgotten  those  who  are  still  our  friends  in  spite 
of  everything,  and  who  are  doing  everything  in  their 
power  for  us.  As  for  the  others,  I  no  longer  believe  in 
them ;  they  are  such  false  friends.  We  have  treated 
them  so  well  ever  since  they  took  Balayan  up  to  the 
present  time  that  they  can  have  nothing  against  us 
except  the  fact  that  Sixto  is  our  brother,  and  in  respect 
to  him  they  assured  us  that  we  had  nothing  to  fear. 
Then,  why  are  our  brothers  now  prisoners  ? 

Two  months  have  passed  and  God  only  knows  what 
we  have  suffered  and  what  remains  for  us  to  suffer  in 
future,  from  the  terrible  and  lasting  effects.  When 
Raymond  was  here  he  came  to  the  house  two  or  three 
times  and  denied  that  any  officer  in  Balayan  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  the  imprisonment  of  our  brothers.  I 
answered  him  that  it  might  be  so,  but  that  no  officer 
had  taken  the  least  trouble  to  defend  them.  This  the 
officers  should  have  done,  not  only  as  good  friends,  but 
still  more  because  military  honor  required  them  to  de- 
fend the  right ;  and  they  did  not  do  it,  but  kept  silent 
like  cowards  lest  what  happened  in  Balangiga  should 
happen  in  Balayan,  for  they  say  that  Balayan  is  no  more 
peaceful  than  was  Balangiga  before  the  attack.  .  .  . 

I  finish  this,  Clemen,  by  begging  you  once  more  to 
do  everything  you  can,  for  our  family  has  been  very 
much  wronged.  My  head  is  good  for  nothing,  and  so  I 
beg  you  to  show  no  one  this  letter  and  to  pardon  me 
because  it  is  so  full  of  erasures.  You  are,  I  repeat,  our 
only  hope  in  remedying  our  dreadful  situation. 

Tell  our  friend  to  forgive  me  for  not  writing  more 
often,  but  I  always  have  much  to  do  and  much  to  think 
about.  Good-bye.  Give  our  regards  to  everybody,  and 
kiss  the  children,  and  remember  that  you  are  loved  and 
not  forgotten  by  your  sister,  Ninay. 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ   FAMILY       125 


[Yes,  there  were  some  true  friends  among  the  Amer- 
icans. Some  ?  There  are  many,  if  all  were  only  known. 
Indeed,  there  are  few  enemies,  and  if  the  poHcy  were 
different  there  would  be  none.  In  the  following  letter 
to  one  of  these  friends  Juliana  shows  that  ingratitude  is 
not  a  characteristic  of  her  race.] 


[From  Juliana  Lopez  to  Fiske  Warren.] 

Manila,  P.  I.,  February  15,  1902. 

Distinguished  and  Dear  Friend  :  First  of  all  I 
hope  that  you  will  forgive  me  for  not  writing  to  you  with 
greater  frequency,  as  is  my  wish ;  but  the  situation  in 
which  my  poor  brothers  find  themselves  prevents  me 
from  doing  anything  for  good  friends  like  yourself,  since 
I  give  all  my  attention  to  their  affairs,  discussing  methods 
and  presenting  reasons  so  that  justice  may  soon  be  done 
them,  if  indeed  there  is  such  a  thing.  I  doubt  very 
much  whether  there  is  here,  for  it  is  now  two  months 
since  my  brothers  have  been  prisoners  and  deported,  and 
we  do  not  yet  know  certainly  the  motive  for  it,  nor  have 
they  been  asked  to  make  any  kind  of  a  declaration.  You 
know  very  well  that  my  brothers  did  not  contribute  to  the 
insurrection  in  Batangas,  being  convinced  that  such  an 
unequal  war  could  bring  us  only  ruin  and  desolation,  as 
it  is  actually  doing  now  ;  for  God  only  knows  how  terrible 
the  consequences  will  be  if  the  few  who  remain  in  the 
field  still  persist  in  the  struggle. 

You  know  also  that  my  brother  Cipriano  surrendered 
with  all  his  guns,  convinced  of  and  trusting  in  the  mag- 
nanimity of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and 
that  this  surrender  was  due  to  the  favorable  representa- 
tions we  made  to  him  about  the  American  people,  when 
all  our  family  were  trying  to  persuade  him  to  follow  the 
paths  of  peace.  We  lay  all  this  before  the  authorities, 
but  they  will  not  hear  us.  They  content  themselves  with 
saying  that  when  the  war  shall  have  ended  and  our  prov- 


126       STORY   OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

ince  shall  have  been  completely  pacified  they  will  give 
our  brothers  their  freedom  and  we  shall  all  be  contented 
with  the  Civil  Government.  As  you  will  understand,  we 
could  wait  as  long  as  they  pleased  if  it  were  only  a  ques- 
tion of  confiscated  property  ;  but  it  concerns  the  wretched 
life  which  our  poor  brothers  are  leading,  who,  as  is  nat- 
ural, are  suffering  from  the  hard  prison  labor  and  are 
failing  in  health  day  by  day  because  they  are  not  accus- 
tomed to  such  a  life  —  especially  my  brother  Lorenzo. 
We  fear  that  if  his  imprisonment  lasts  many  weeks 
longer  his  eyes  will  trouble  him  again  and  his  cough 
become  worse,  and  the  result  may  be  serious. 

On  the  other  hand,  reading  your  letter  to  me  of  the 
4th  of  January  has  relieved  and  consoled  me  very  much 
in  these  days,  when  my  spirit  is  so  depressed;  and  I 
thank  you  for  your  letter  with  all  my  heart,  and  also  for 
the  many  other  favors  which  you  are  doing  and  have 
done  for  my  unfortunate  family.  I  can  find  no  words  to 
express  to  you  our  deep  gratitude,  and  all  that  I  can  say 
to  you,  of  what  our  hearts  feel  toward  you  and  your 
family,  is  pale. 

As  to  affairs  in  Batangas,  I  will  only  allow  myself  to 
say  that  they  remind  me  of  the  Spanish  domination  in 
the  year  of  '96,  the  memory  of  which  fills  me  with 
horror. 

I  should  like  to  tell  you  about  many  things  which  I 
know  of,  but  I  will  leave  them  all  until  I  have  the  good 
fortune  to  fulfill  my  promise  to  you  to  visit  you  in  that 
city  where  the  sedition  law  is  unknown. 

Good-bye  for  a  time.  Give  my  regards  to  your  dear 
family,  to  whom  I  wish  all  sorts  of  happiness,  and  dispose 
of  the  services  of  your  friend,  who  does  not  forget 
you.  Juliana  Lopez 


STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       127 


["  I  waited  for  him.      And  he  came  not." 

The  following  letter  is  full  of  high  hope,  due  to  a 
report  that  the  brothers  had  been  released.  "All  day 
to-morrow  we  shall  expect  Manuel,  and  he  will  dine  with 
us,  as  we  are  assured."  But  the  report,  though  supported 
by  much  circumstantial  evidence,  was  untrue.  The* 
brothers  were  not  released,  and  had  to  remain  in  prison 
for  almost  three  more  months,  or,  until  the  loth  of 
May. 

It  has  been  said  that  a  lady  never  writes  a  letter  with- 
out adding  a  postscript,  and  that  the  chief  item  is  gen- 
erally contained  in  the  "  P.  S."  It  may  have  been  noted 
that  Juliana  is  singularly  free  from  this  delightful  habit, 
and  although  she  is  the  writer  of  the  following  letter  the 
postscript  is  not  hers.  The  ever  quaint  Maria  is  its 
author,  and  whether  it  be  held  to  contain  the  chief  item 
will  depend  chiefly  on  the  point  of  view !  Of  course 
Maria  did  not  want  the  "  big  doll  "  for  herself.  She  has 
any  number  of  little  nieces  and  God-children,  and  the 
doll  was  for  one  of  these  —  at  least  so  we  will  assume  !] 


[From  Juliana  to  Sixto  Lopez.] 

Manila,  February  19,  1902, 

Dear  Brother  :  Now  that  I  have  completely  recov- 
ered from  the  indisposition  which  for  some  days  has  de- 
prived me  of  the  desire  to  do  anything,  I  set  myself  to 
answer  your  letters  of  the  31st,  7th,  and  1 3th.  I  will  tell 
you  first  of  all  that  the  last  two  were  received  on  time, 
but  the  first,  which  was  brought  me  by  some  one,  I  do 
not  know  by  whom,  we  only  received  a  week  ago,  and 
I  was  very  sorry  for  the  delay.  I  believe  Mariquita 
told  you  what  happened  as  regards  the  bearer  of  the 
letter. 

Two  men  from  Lipa,  who  arrived  to-day  from  that 
town,  have  just  brought  us  the  great  news  that  they  have 


128       STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

seen  Lorenzo  and  Cipriano,  who  were  coming  from 
Calamba,  in  the  Red  Cross  ambulance,  and  going  toward 
Batangas.  One  of  them  came  on  purpose,  at  Cipriano's 
request,  to  tell  us  that  our  brothers  are  now  at  liberty 
and  that  they  will  go  to  Balayan.  Manuel  still  remains 
at  Malagi ;  he  will  come  to  Manila  in  a  few  days.  Imag- 
ine how  delighted  we  must  be  since  we  have  known  this, 
and  even  more  on  poor  mother's  account,  for  whom 
life  is  again  brightening.  Poor  darling !  All  this  news 
must  be  true,  for  some  days  ago  General  Chaffee's 
private  secretary,  who  for  some  time  has  taken  Mari- 
ano's part,  assured  him  that  very  soon  our  brothers 
would  be  set  free,  for  the  authorities  were  convinced 
of  their  innocence.  Accordingly,  all  day  to-morrow  we 
shall  expect  Manuel,  and  he  will  dine  with  us,  as  we  are 
assured. 

In  regard  to  the  questions  which  you  have  asked  me 
about  the  reconcentration  which  is  taking  place  in  all  the 
towns,  I  do  not  know  what  to  say  to  you.  I  only  know 
that  in  Balayan  they  keep  rice  for  the  reconcentrados 
and  poor  people,  and  the  "  Purisima,"  which  does  nothing 
else  but  this,  brings  rice  from  other  towns  where  it  is 
plentiful,  to  the  towns  whose  ports  are  closed,  and  also 
nipa,  so  that  the  country  people  can  make  themselves 
houses  in  town.  In  one  way,  what  the  Government  is 
doing  —  in  sending  nipa  to  some  of  the  towns  of  Batangas, 
getting  it  at  Balayan  —  is  a  benefit  to  our  people  who  are 
devoting  themselves  to  this  industry,  for,  according  to 
what  I  am  told,  they  are  well  and  promptly  paid.  Accord- 
ing to  Andrea's  last  letter,  the  volunteers  no  longer  occupy 
our  house,  and  will  not  return.  As  to  the  superintendents, 
they  still  remain  prisoners.  Their  names  are  Gregorio 
de  Guzman  (of  Dao),  Ramon  Alimanzor  (Matauanak), 
Hilario  Panaligan  (of  Toong),  and  Isabelo  Capacia  (of 
Calan).  This  last,  according  to  details  w^hich  we  have 
received,  was  denounced  in  Tuy,  to  the  company  of 
Macabebes  which  is  stationed  in  that  town,  by  some  one 
who,  not  being  able  to  endure  the  blows  which  the 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       129 

Macabebes  gave  him,  said  anything  so  that  they  might 
leave  him  in  peace. 

After  having  maltreated  poor  Isabelo,  who  confessed 
nothing,  in  spite  of  the  many  blows  which  they  gave  him, 
they  took  him  to  the  river  Matauanak  and  there  drowned 
him,  leaving  his  body  to  the  mercy  of  the  current  without 
giving  him  any  burial.  The  others  were  arrested  in 
Malayan,  and  there  they  are  to  remain  until  they  present 
the  imaginary  fifty  guns.  .  .  . 

Quita  has  already  written  you  as  to  from  whom  mother 
wants  you  to  get  the  money  for  your  passage  and  other 
expenses,  for  if  you  ask  a  loan  from  the  friend  of  whom 
you  speak  we  all  know  that  he  will  not  refuse  you,  but 
mother  prefers  that  you  should  obtain  it  from  some 
business  house,  paying  interest,  and  so  we  should  owe 
no  one  a  favor. 

I  send  you  a  box  of  clothing  for  Clemen,  and  six  boxes 
of  cigars  ;  the  other  three  boxes  are  for  our  valued  friend 
Tom,  which  you  will  give  him  in  mother's  name. 

Tell  that  person  who  rejoiced  so  much  at  our  mis- 
fortunes, both  openly  and  secretly,  that  all  the  Lipa 
people  are  now  free,  and  our  brothers  as  well ;  so  that 
now  he  ought  to  weep.  We  think  we  know  who  this 
good  fellow-countryman  and  self-styled  patriot  is.  As 
regards  Seiior  Afable,  we  all  think  here  that  he  is  con- 
ducting himself  well  in  the  town,  and  even  that  it  is  due 
to  him  that  there  have  not  been  so  many  arrests  in 
Balayan  as  in  other  towns.  In  Lipa  the  number  of 
prisoners  went  as  high  as  700 ;  but  now  there  are  not 
more  than  eighty.  As  for  Dr.  Lozada,  I  believe  that 
he  appreciates  very  much,  as  does  also  his  wife,  the  care 
you  took  of  him  during  his  sickness,  and  they  are  accord- 
ingly grateful.  .  .  . 

I  should  like  to  send  you  some  of  Clemen's  jewels  ; 
but  I  do  not  know  to  whom  to  trust  them  so  that  they 
may  come  safely  to  your  hands.  We  do  not  yet  know 
who  will  take  you  Clemen's  box  and  the  cigars  which  we 
are  sending  you.     We  cannot  obtain  the  five  numbers  of 


I30       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

the  Manila  Times.     They  say  that  there  are  no  more 
copies. 

Good-bye,  and  a  pleasant  voyage. 

Thine  to  dispose  of,  Ninay. 

Postscript :  I  have  received  your  letter  dated  the  T4th, 
but  have  not  the  time  to  write  you.  When  you  come 
back  from  America  bring  me  a  big  doll.* 

Thine,  Maria. 


[The  above  account  of  the  manner  in  which  poor 
Isabelo  Capacia  was  put  to  death  was  from  current 
report  and  is  not  correct.  A  full  statement  of  his 
tragic  death  will  be  found  on  a  subsequent  page. 


The  splendid  letter  which  follows  is,  in  part,  as 
despondent  as  the  previous  one  had  been  hopeful.  In- 
stead of  the  release  of  the  brothers,  report  said  that 
Lorenzo  and  Cipriano  had  been  taken  to  Batangas  to  be 
tried  by  court-martial.  This  report  also  was  untrue,  at 
least  as  far  as  Lorenzo  was  concerned. 

The  interview  with  Captain  Taggart,  briefly  referred 
to  in  a  previous  letter,  is  here  described  more  fully.  In 
Captain  Taggart's  opinion  Mr.  Warren  is  "the  worst  man 
in  America."  The  ill  opinion  of  some  men  is  in  itself  a 
certificate  of  moral  worth  and  excellence,  but  this  cannot 
be  said  of  Captain  Taggart,  and,  furthermore,  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether  he  really  means  what  he  says.  It  is  probably 
his  way  of  expressing  disagreement  with  one  whom  he 
regards  as  an  opponent.  The  soldier  is  almost  always 
in  extremes ;  it  is  his  nature,  his  business,  to  be  so. 
Any  one  who  agrees  with  him  he  will  defend  ;  any  one 
who   criticises   him   he  will    kill.     His  liberality  is    no 


*  A  doll  of  satisfactory  dimensions  is  now  on  its  way  to  Maria 
(November,  1903). 


STORY    OF    THE    LOFKZ    FAMILY       131 

broader  than  the  edge  of  his  sword.  "Badness,"  from 
the  soldier's  point  of  view,  amounts  simply  to  the  hold- 
ing of  an  opposite  opinion.  It  is  because  of  this  that 
the  soldier  is  usually  not  a  conspicuous  success  when  he 
attempts  to  govern  a  province  that  he  has  conquered. 
Of  course  there  are  exceptions  ;  there  have  been  great 
soldiers,  but  they  were  also  great  men  —  too  great  to 
remain  soldiers  to  the  end  of  their  activity.  Such  were 
Washington  and  Grant,  who  were  even  greater  men 
than  they  were  soldiers.  But  Washingtons  and  Grants 
are  few ;  it  is  to  the  average  soldier  that  these  opinions 
refer.  And  so,  the  Filipinos  have  to  suffer,  and  those 
who  are  old-fashioned  enough  to  believe  still  in  the  prin- 
ciples for  which  Washington  fought  must  submit  to 
being  regarded  as  bad  men  from  the  soldier's  point  of 
view.  However,  Mr.  Warren  may  comfort  himself  with 
the  thought  that,  if  he  is  "  the  worst  man  in  America," 
he  could  not  always  have  claimed  the  distinction  ;  he 
simply  upholds  the  principles,  —  Washington  enunciated 
and  fought  for  them  ! 

The  spirit  of  Juliana  remains  unconquered  and  un- 
conquerable, in  spite  of  this  attempt  to  crush  her  in- 
dependence of  mind  and  that  of  her  brother  Sixto : 
"  Let  me  tell  you,"  she  writes  to  Clemencia,  "that  we  — 
at  least  I,  for  my  part  —  will  sacrifice  my  share  of  the 
estate  for  you  and  the  others  who  are  there."  The 
"others "  refers  to  Sixto.  Can  such  a  one,  who  is  ready 
to  sacrifice  her  share  of  the  remnant  of  a  shattered 
estate,  be  conquered  or  bought  by  a  promise  of  "  greater 
prosperity  "  } 

Contrary  to  her  usual  custom,  Juliana  adds  a  post- 
script to  this  letter,  and,  when  one  stops  to  think,  it 
does  indeed  contain  the  chief  item.  Notwithstanding 
Captain  Taggart's  opinion  of  Mr.  Warren,  Juliana  says : 
"  Give  my  regards  to  all  of  the  good  family  which  is 
protecting  you,  and  tell  Mr.  Warren  that  we  thmk  of 
him  a  great  deal!'  In  all  the  circumstances  there  is  a 
whole  volume  in  these  words.] 


132       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  February  25,  1902, 
Dearest  Clemen  :  At  the  moment  that  I  am  writing 
you  we  are  more  afflicted,  if  such  a  thing  is  possible, 
than  we  have  been  since  the  arrest  of  our  three  brothers, 
for  we  have  learned  that  they  took  Lorenzo  and  Cipriano 
to  Batangas  to  try  them  by  court-martial.     We  do  not 
know  whether  this  information  is  correct,  but  it  is  certain 
that  they  were  taken  to  Batangas,  for  Pepe  Katigbak 
assured  us  that  he  had  seen  them  pass  through  Lipa, 
although  he  does  not  know  the  reason  why  they  were 
called  there.     We  hear  various  things  about  them,  but 
nothing  directly  from  them,  which  we  attribute  to  the 
fact  that  they  are  not  even  allowed  to  write.     Three 
days  ago  we  were  told  that  they  were  being  taken  to 
Batangas   to  be    released,   and  that   Manuel  would  be 
brought  here  to  Manila  for  the  same  purpose,  for  the 
latter,  as   you  know,  was  arrested  in   Boac,  which  is 
under  Civil  Government,  and  accordingly  we  thought  it 
natural  that  he  should  be  brought  here. 

But  yesterday,  and  again  to-day,  we  were  assured  that 
nothing  of  the  sort  was  true,  and  we  believe  it,  for  they 
have  not  brought  Manuel,  as  Chaffee's  private  secretary, 
who  is  doing  what  he  can  for  our  brothers,  promised  us. 
We  cannot  imagine  what  the  reason  is  that  they  are 
holding  our  brothers  so  closely  when  all  the  Lipa  people 
are  now  set  free,  so  that,  out  of  700  prisoners  from 
that  town,  there  are  at  present  only  seventy.  You 
cannot  imagine  in  what  despair  we  are,  and  even  more 
when  we  see  our  poor  mother  weep  and  do  not  know 
how  to  console  her,  but  can  only  begin  to  weep,  too,  out 
of  sheer  desperation.  But  we  do  not  tell  her  the  whole 
truth  about  our  situation,  for  if  she  knew  it  all  I  do  not 
know  what  would  be  the  effect.  Poor  little  mother! 
We  take  care  not  to  tell  her  anything  which  might 
make  her  more  unhappy,  and,  moreover,  we  hide  our- 
selves when  we  cry,  and  conceal  all  that  we  feel,  so  that 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPKZ    FAMILY       133 

she  may  not  see  us  afflicted.  I  have  never  missed 
you  as  I  do  now  in  these  circumstances,  for  I  do  not 
know  whom  to  consult  about  what  happens  and  about 
what  I  ought  to  do.  Just  think!  —  as  you  know,  I 
have  never  in  my  Hfe  decided  to  do  anything  without 
consulting  you,  and  now  I  am  obliged  to  do  what  seems 
to  me  best,  and  I  do  not  yet  know  what  the  results  will 
be.     I  refer  only  to  the  question  of  our  brothers. 

I  felt  very  badly  when  you  left  us  in  this  situation, 
but  now  I  believe  that  even  you  could  do  nothing  for 
them,  for  what  is  demanded  is  impossible ;  that  is,  that 
we  should  persuade  our  brother  to  come  and  take  the 
oath.  Believe  me,  Clemen,  with  all  these  things  which 
are  happening  to  us,  if  I  had  not  been  brought  up  in 
religion  and  believed  in  it  from  childhood  I  should  be- 
come a  heretic  from  all  the  sorrow  that  has  come  to  us. 
I  am  sure  that  it  is  the  wicked  who  are  protected  here 
in  the  Philippines,  and  it  is  to  them  that  the  authorities 
give  credit,  for  they  believe  them  friendly  to  the  Gov- 
ernment ;  but  these  gentlemen  do  not  know  that  this  is 
only  a  cover  so  that  these  wicked  men  may  revenge 
themselves  on  their  enemies,  and  gain  money  by  making 
false  denunciations.  The  authorities  do  not  understand 
that  in  this  way  they  will  gain  nothing  but  hatred,  in- 
stead of  being  regarded  and  trusted  as  the  representa- 
tives of  a  liberating  nation,  as  I  believed  them  to  be. 
It  was  our  confidence  in  them  that  ruined  us. 

Every  time  that  I  write  to  you  I  forget  to  tell  you 
the  details  about  the  arrest  of  our  brothers.  On  the 
1 3th  of  December,  in  the  afternoon,  Cipriano  went  out 
on  horseback  with  Raymond  to  mark  out  the  limits  of 
the  reconcentration,  which  had  not  then  been  deter- 
mined in  our  town.  They  went  over  the  ground  in  a 
few  hours  and  came  back  together  to  the  town,  and 
when  they  arrived  in  front  of  the  commander's  office, 
an  officer  —  I  do  not  know  who  —  made  them  come  in, 
and  there  showed  them  a  telegram  from  Bell  which 
ordered  that  immediately  upon  receipt  of  the  said  tele- 


134       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

gram  the  two  Lopez  brothers  and  FeHx  Unson  should 
be  arrested,  the  house  seized,  and  all  the  papers,  docu- 
ments, and  letters  found  therein  taken,  Raymond,  who 
was  then  acting  as  commanding  officer,  as  Cole  was  in 
Batangas,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  this  order  was  given 
to  him,  did  not  wish  to  enforce  it  in  person,  perhaps 
because  he  remembered  the  claims  of  friendship.  At 
any  rate  he  sent  another  officer  to  do  it,  everything 
being  carried  out  as  the  telegram  directed. 

I  was  mistaken  in  telling  you  that  they  also  carried 
off  money,  for  only  the  things  I  have  just  mentioned 
were  taken.  You  will  remember  that  there  was  in 
the  box  a  collection  of  letters  in  English  from  many 
of  the  officers  who  were  in  Balayan,  They  have  taken 
those,  too,  and  I  have  since  learned  that  they  ascertained 
that  I  could  speak  and  write  English  fairly  well.     This 

was  told  me  by ,  who  was  rather  anxious  about 

his  letters,  but  I  told  him  that  those  which  were  not 
torn  up  I  had  brought  with  me  here. 

The  "  Purisima  "  was  in  Balayan  that  same  night  with 
Manuel,  who  had  been  arrested  in  Boac  through  the 
deceit  of  Lieutenant  Allen,  formerly  of  the  Twenty- 
eighth  Volunteers  under  Taggart,  but  now  a  regular. 
He  told  Manuel  that  he  was  obliged  to  hire  the  boat,  as 
he  had  received  an  order  from  Bell  to  go  immediately  to 
Batangas  with  his  soldiers.  Manuel  answered  that  he 
could  not  take  them,  as  he  had  an  agreement  to  fulfill, 
and,  besides,  the  unloading  was  not  finished;  but  the 
lieutenant  insisted  so  strongly  that  there  was  nothing 
else  to  do  but  yield,  and  they  accordingly  went  on  board 
the  steamer  together.  Once  on  board,  nobody  was 
allowed  to  stir,  the  soldiers  were  drawn  up  in  file,  and 
Allen  ordered  Numeriano  [the  captain  of  the  "Pu- 
risima"] to  give  orders  to  go  to  Batangas.  They  arrived 
at  Batangas,  and  only  remained  long  enough  for  Cole, 
who  immediately  ordered  the  boat  to  proceed  to  Balayan, 
to  come  aboard ;  and  at  Balayan  he  had  our  brothers, 
together  with  Unzon,  brought  on  board  in  order  to  take 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       135 

them  to  Batangas,  telling  them  that  I^cll  wished  to  con- 
fer with  all  three  on  a  very  important  matter.  Every- 
thing that  Cole  said  was  untrue,  for  they  did  not  even 
see  Bell's  face  during  the  three  weeks  that  they  were 
imprisoned  there.  Alter  that  time  they  brought  them 
here  to  the  harbor  in  the  hold  of  the  "  Legaspi,"  with 
other  companions,  of  which  I  think  I  have  told  you  in 
my  previous  letters ;  and  they  were  in  the  hold  for  two 
days.  They  told  me  afterwards,  when  I  went  to  visit 
them,  that  if  they  had  not  been  transferred  to  another 
steamer  they  would  have  been  asphyxiated  by  the  heat 
and  lack  of  air,  if  the  confinement  had  lasted  any 
longer.  They  say  that  our  poor  Lorenzo  had  to  take 
off  all  his  clothes,  his  condition  was  so  wretched. 

On  the  "  Liscum  "  they  were  well-treated,  better  than 
anywhere  else,  and,  besides,  we  could  take  them  anything 
they  needed.  But,  unfortunately,  after  they  had  been 
on  board  two  weeks  they  took  them  to  Malagi,  and  there 
they  still  are  suffering  beyond  what  you  can  imagine; 
without  a  house,  with  poor  food,  obliged  to  be  in  the  sun 
acting  as  overseers ;  and  at  night,  so  cold  that  they  can- 
not sleep.  Poor  brothers  1  I  believe  that  what  they 
have  told  is  nothing  in  comparison  with  what  they  actu- 
ally suffer.  What  makes  me  more  despairing  than  ever 
is  that  none  of  our  American  friends  will  show  their 
faces  for  them ;  they  do  not  dare  to  speak  for  fear  of 
the  military,  and  even  the  military  do  not  dare. 

I  will  tell  you  about  Taggart,  whom  I  went  to  see  a 
few  days  ago,  to  inquire  about  the  imprisonment  of  our 
brothers.  He  told  me  that  the  only  charge  against 
them  is  that  of  being  brothers  of  the  enemy  of  Amer- 
ica,—  you  know  who,  but  I  am  afraid  to  put  his  name 
in  black  and  white  [Sixto  Lopez].  Besides,  he  added, 
why  had  we  sheltered  Fiske,  who  is  the  worst  man 
in  America,  and  who  is  surely  the  one  who  set  going 
again  the  almost  finished  insurrection  in  Batangas  ? 

You  can  imagine  what  I  answered  him.  As  to  the 
seizure  of  our  property,  he  says  he  supposes  that  the 


136       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

Government  did  this  because  we  maintained  our  brother, 
who  [it  is  claimed]  does  nothing  but  say  bad  things  of 
the  Americans ;  that  accordingly,  they  do  not  wish  to 
protect  interests  which  are  being  used  against  them; 
and  that  the  best  thing  we  can  do  is  to  divide  the  prop- 
erty so  that  ours  will  be  separate  from  our  brother's. 
Finally  he  consoled  me,  telling  me  to  have  patience  ;  that 
they  would  soon  be  set  at  liberty  (this  was  on  the  3d  of 
January),  and  that  as  far  as  he  was  concerned  he  believed 
he  could  not  help  us  or  do  anything  for  our  brothers, 
while  the  insurrection  in  Batangas  continued,  on  account 
of  the  strong  feeling  which  the  military  had  against  us. 
He  received  me  well,  as  usual,  but  these  words  distressed 
me  very  much,  for  I  saw  that  the  military  had  decided 
to  injure  our  family  under  any  pretext.  Captain  Curry, 
who  is  very  sorry  for  us,  can  do  absolutely  nothing  for 
our  brothers.  He  comes  to  the  house  quite  often  to  see 
us,  for  which  I  am  grateful  to  him.  I  have  the  consola- 
tion of  knowing  that  out  of  so  many  Americans  who 
have  received  favors  from  us  there  is  one  who  still 
remembers  to  visit  us. 

I  received  your  letters  from  Penan g,  Colombo,  Aden, 
Suez,  and  Naples,  which  have  made  us  more  easy  about 
your  voyage.  God  grant  that  you  continue  well  and 
have  a  pleasant  voyage  to  your  destination,  I  cannot 
now  appreciate  nor  realize  —  forgive  me  for  saying  so  — 
all  that  you  tell  us  in  your  letters,  for  my  imagination  is 
wholly  taken  up  by  all  these  unexpected  events,  and  the 
only  thing  that  I  cannot  forget,  day  and  night,  is  the 
imprisonment  of  our  brothers  and  the  fact  that  we  can 
do  nothing  for  them.   .   .  . 

Let  me  tell  you  that  we  —  at  least  I,  for  my  part  — 
will  sacrifice  my  share  of  the  estate  for  you  and  the 
others  who  are  there  [in  America], 

Your  sister,  Ninay, 

Give  my  regards  to  all  of  the  good  family  which  is 
protecting  you,  and  tell  Mr.  Warren  that  we  think  of 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       137 

him  a  great  deal,  and  that  I  will  write  him  whenever 
I  can. 
Good-bye. 


[The  following  letter  gives  some  explanation  of  the 
reason  of  the  false  report  in  reference  to  the  release  of 
the  brothers.  It  also  contains  two  references  which 
require  explanation. 

"Your  departure,"  writes  Juliana  to  Sixto,  "from  the 
neighboring  colony  was  a  sensational  piece  of  news  for 
those  here,  especially  for  the  whites."  No  doubt !  The 
opinion  was  general  in  Manila  that  Sixto  Lopez  would 
come  and  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  in  order  to  secure 
the  release  of  his  brothers  ;  and  apparently  some  one 
was  determined  that,  when  he  came,  as  effective  a  seal 
should  be  placed  upon  his  lips  as  had  been  upon 
Mabini's.  Captain  Tait,  of  the  "  Rosetta  Maru,"  on 
which  Sixto  was  to  have  gone  to  Manila,  tells  that  when 
he  reached  Manila  Bay,  an  officer  and  six  detectives 
came  out  to  the  boat  to  identify  and  apprehend  Sixto 
Lopez,  and  that  the  officer  "swore  horrible" — to  use  a 
Shakespearean  phrase  —  when  he  found  that  Sixto  Lopez 
was  not  on  board.  It  must  indeed  have  been  a  "  sen- 
sational piece  of  news "  that,  in  spite  of  the  pressure 
brought  to  bear  upon  Sixto  Lopez,  he  was  about  to 
depart  for  America ! 

"  The  best  laid  schemes  o'  mice  and  men 
Gang  aft  agley." 

Senor  Arturo  Dancel,  to  whom  Juliana  refers,  came 
to  Hong-Kong  ostensibly  to  induce  the  Committee  or 
Junta  to  recognize  American  sovereignty  and  order  the 
surrender  of  Malvar  and  Lukban.  He  professed  to  be 
authorized  by  the  Manila  authorities  to  treat  with  the 
Committee,  but  when  he  was  asked  to  produce  his 
credentials   he    made   the    lame    excuse    that    he    had 


138       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

inadvertently  left  them  at  home  !  The  Committee  there- 
upon refused  to  treat  with  him,  and  so,  he  turned  to 
Sixto  Lopez,  whom  he  —  like  Judge  Ladd  and  Dwyer 
and  Tirrell  —  found  to  be  a  reasonable  human  being, 
in  favor  of  a  policy  of  peace,  and  in  no  sense  the  "red 
raw  revolutionist "  that  he  had  been  described. 

Sefior  Dancel  is  credited  with  being  a  secret  agent  of 
the  Manila  Government ;  at  any  rate,  he  is  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Federal  party  and  is  persona  grata  with 
Governor  Taft  and  others.  Yet  when  he  returned  to 
Manila  he  was  compelled,  probably  on  account  of  his 
having  had  intercourse  with  Sixto  Lopez,  to  take  another 
oath  of  allegiance  to  America.  Still,  though  Sixto  Lopez 
was  thus  the  probable  cause  of  this  implied  aspersion  on 
Dancel's  faith  and  allegiance,  Dancel  could  not  but  speak 
well  of  the  man  who  had  received  him  kindly  and  treated 
him  with  frankness.  Thus,  Juliana  writes  to  Sixto  : 
"  Dancel  speaks  very  highly  of  you,  praising  you  to  the 
skies."] 

[From  Juliana  to  Sixto  Lopez.] 

Manila,  P.  I.,  March  3,  1902. 
Dear  Brother  :  First  of  all  I  beg  you  to  pardon  me 
for  having  given  you  mistaken  information  about  the 
liberation  of  our  brothers ;  but  everybody  in  the  house 
was  sure  of  its  reasonableness,  as  I  was  myself ;  and  all 
the  more  because  Charing  and  Quita  talked  with  Senor 
Lantin,  a  doctor,  who  came  from  Cipriano  to  tell  us 
what  I  wrote  you  in  my  last  letter.  This  news  was 
confirmed  by  one  of  the  Katigbak  family,  who  also  has 
just  arrived  from  Lipa,  and  who  said  that  he  had  really 
seen  Cipriano;  but,  as  he  could  not  speak  with  him, 
he  did  not  know  the  reason  for  Cipriano's  going  to 
Batangas.  But  as  Senor  Lantin  assured  them,  according 
to  Quita,  that  Cipriano  told  him  that  it  was  in  order  to 
liberate  them,  I  was  convinced  also,  only  I  was  surprised 
that  they  were  not  freed  here  in  Manila.  Believe  me, 
we  held  this  belief  for  two  days,  until  Mariano  went  to 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       139 

talk  with  Lantiii,  who  denied  everything  that  he  was 
understood  to  have  said  to  the  two  girls.  You  can 
imagine  how  surprised  they  were  at  not  having  correctly 
understood  what  Lantin  told  them  about  Cipriano. 

Since  this  is  explained,  then,  I  will  go  on  and  tell  you 
that  your  departure  from  the  neighboring  colony  was  a 
sensational  piece  of  news  for  those  here,  especially  for 
the  whites,  who  believed  that  you  were  almost  decided 
to  come  and  save  us,  as  that  is  the  only  reason  why 
Lorenzo  and  Manuel  were  imprisoned.  Captain  Cole 
was  here  at  the  house  to  visit  us,  as  friendly  as  ever,  and 
told  us  that  he  is  the  examining  judge  of  Batangas,  and 
promised  us  that  he  would  do  everything  he  could  for  the 
welfare  of  Cipriano.  Mariano  showed  him  all  the  docu- 
ments referring  to  the  guns  presented  by  Cipriano  at  his 
surrender,  which  numbered  more  than  i  50.  The  docu- 
ments are  signed  by  Captain  Gale,  according  to  whom  a 
certain  Bias  Noble  and  another,  whose  name  I  do  not 
remember,  are  those  who  have  denounced  Cipriano  as 
being  still  the  possessor  of  fifty  guns.  .  .  . 

Dancel  has  brought  us  everything  you  sent  us,  and 
speaks  very  highly  of  you,  praising  you  to  the  skies.  I 
will  close  now,  only  telling  you  that  everybody,  even  the 
prisoners,  remain  in  good  health,  and  we  wish  the  same 
for  you. 

Your  sister,  Ninay. 


-♦i 


[In  order  to  appreciate  the  nature  of  the  "peace" 
brought  about  by  methods  which  produce  hatred,  it  is 
only  necessary  to  read  the  following  letter  from  Juliana. 
The  peace  which  rests  upon  the  point  of  a  sword,  and 
not  upon  the  recognized  rights  of  a  people,  is  unstable 
enough,  without  question.  But  what  shall  be  said  of 
that  "  peace  "  which  has  come  about  by  methods  differing 
only  in  circumstance  from  those  which  send  an  endless 


I40      STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

human  procession  across  Siberian  snows  ?  "  If  you  could 
see  our  family,"  writes  Juliana,  "and  hear  us  talk  about 
these  invaders  of  our  land,  it  would  astonish  you ;  for 
our  attitude  has  radically  changed,  seeing  so  much  injus- 
tice and  outrage.  .  .  .  We  are  undeceived,  and  filled 
with  resentment  toward  this  Government,  which  will  go 
to  any  length  to  bring  about  peace,  sacrificing  many 
innocent  people  and  committing  abuses.  It  will  not, 
however,  be  possible  for  them  to  bring  about  moral  peace, 
only  physical ;  and  I  for  my  part  will  never  forget  these 
offenses." 

But  Nature  sometimes  produces  strange  anomalies: 
"There  was,"  says  Juliana,  "even  one.  Dr.  Vadua,  who 
spoke  of  these  events  with  loud  congratulations  [literally, 
"  wagging  his  jawbones  in  the  air "],  praising  these 
measures."  These  letters  will  become  historical.  And 
it  will  be  amusing  as  well  as  instructive  to  the  future 
historian  to  find  how  Juliana  has  sent  this  Dr.  Vadua 
down  through  history  "wagging  his  jawbones  in  the 
air  "  !  He  will  take  his  place  with  Samson,  for  apparently 
he  has  been  wielding  a  similar  weapon,  and  future  genera- 
tions of  Filipinos,  reading  their  Bible  and  their  history, 
will  marvel  at  the  uses  to  which  the  jawbones  of  this 
homely  creature  have  been  put.  To  slay  five  thousand 
Philistines  with  the  jawbone  of  an  ass  was,  in  itself,  a 
questionable  achievement ;  but  to  wag  the  jawbones  of  an 
ass  as  an  encouragement  to  those  who  were  slaying  one's 
own  countrymen  is  a  display  of  perverted  enthusiasm 
upon  which  Dr.  Vadua  cannot  be  congratulated.  Or  — 
do  we  wrong  Dr.  Vadua,  and  are  his  real  opinions  differ- 
ent from  those  which  he  expresses  .'' 

The  historian  may  also  note  another  item  of  a  very 
different  and  delightful  character  :  "  Give  many  kisses  to 
cunning  little  Marjorie,  who,  you  tell  me,  is  very  sweet 
and  not  at  all  shy."  When  Marjorie,  Mr.  Warren's 
younger  daughter,  grows  to  womanhood,  or  perhaps, 
when  the  snows  of  years  to  come  change  her  golden 
glory   into    gray,   she   may  perchance  come  upon  this 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       141 

beautiful  reference  to  her  childhood's  days,  and  will 
know  that  her  infant  sweetness  was  a  cordial  to  those 
in  deep  distress.  It  was  ever  thus  :  a  star  shines  through 
the  darkest  night  ;  a  ray  of  hope  pierces  down  into  the 
depths  of  despair ;  and  sweetjiess  often  mingles  with  the 
tragedy  of  man's  inhumanity  to  man.] 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  March  7,  1902. 

Dearest  Clemen  :  I  received  your  letters  from  Paris, 
and  we  were  delighted  that  you  arrived  safely  and  found 
all  the  family  of  our  good  friend  well  and  happy.  Truly, 
they  are  very  fortunate  people.  We,  on  the  other  hand, 
continue  in  the  same  situation,  our  brothers  deported, 
and,  in  spite  of  the  promises  made  us  by  influential  per- 
sons, we  have  no  hope  of  seeing  them  free.  I  say  this 
to  you,  for  it  is  almost  a  month  now  since  their  lib- 
eration was  promised,  —  the  day  being  even  set  for 
them  to  start  home,  but  they  have  not  yet  started. 
We  are  more  convinced  than  ever  that  the  imprison- 
ment of  the  three  was  really  due  to  Sixto's  tenacious 
attitude.  That  about  the  guns  is  only  an  excuse,  so 
that  they  may  have  some  good  reason  for  acting  in 
this  manner,  and  so  that  it  may  not  be  believed  that  it 
is  really  on  Sixto's  account,  for  I  do  not  believe  that 
they  could  legally  punish  the  three  for  another's  fault, 
but  only  on  some  charge  made  against  them  directly,  as 
was  done. 

All  those  who  are  prisoners  (I  refer  only  to  the  influ- 
ential men)  are  accused  of  nothing  against  the  Govern- 
ment, only  of  being  friendly  to  some  insurgent  —  al- 
though it  is  perfectly  well  known  that  they  do  not  share 
the  ideas  of  the  insurgents ;  but  the  Americans  suppose 
that  the  prisoners  will  do  a  great  deal  for  the  pacifica- 
tion of  the  country  when  they  find  themselves  treated 
like  criminals  and  oppressed  by  injustice  !  M.Cabrera 
made  great  sacrifices  to  secure  the  surrender  of  his  fel- 


142       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

low  citizens  of  Taal,  and  now  there  is  not  one  of  the 
leading  men  of  that  town  in  the  field.  But  as  he  did  not 
succeed  in  bringing  about  the  surrender  of  Malvar,  all 
these  services  have  availed  him  nothing ;  on  the  con- 
trary, he  was  taken  to  Malagi.  M.  Marasigan,  a  lawyer, 
because  he  had  a  nephew,  B.  Laki,  in  the  field,  was  sent 
there  also.  P.  Hilario,  who  is  sixty  years  old,  was  kept 
two  weeks  in  the  stocks  in  the  prison  of  Batangas, 
because  they  supposed  him  to  be  a  sympathizer  with  the 
insurgents  and  to  have  some  influence  over  an  insurgent 
officer  of  Batangas ;  and  he,  too,  is  now  among  the 
prisoners  in  Malagi  because  he  could  not  bring  about 
the  surrender  of  this  man. 

All  the  Lipa  men  are  free  because  they  presented 
many  guns  which  they  bought  from  those  in  the  field ; 
and  they  had  no  trouble  in  finding  men  who  would  sell, 
I  said  to  the  authorities  that,  since  they  require  fifty 
guns  of  our  brothers,  they  ought  to  authorize  Mariano 
to  buy  abroad  the  guns  which  they  wish,  as  it  will  be  im- 
possible to  get  them  in  Balayan  ;  and  that  we  would  go 
to  this  expense  simply  that  our  brothers  might  be  set  free. 
Some  of  them  looked  very  serious  when  I  told  them  that, 
but  as  it  is  the  truth  I  don't  care  what  they  think. 

We  finally  went  to  call  on  Captain  Cole  and  his  wife ; 
mother  insisted  that  we  should  pay  him  this  attention 
because  he  is  to  be  the  presiding  judge  at  Cipriano's 
trial.  As  you  will  understand,  it  was  an  effort  for  me, 
and  it  made  me  very  sad  that  we  should  go  to  renew  our 
Balayan  acquaintance,  after  Cipriano  had  assured  me 
that  this  man  had  contributed  much  to  our  difficulties 
through  his  cowardice ;  for  he  was  afraid  that  if  the 
American  force  in  Balayan  was  attacked,  our  brothers 
would  be  the  first  to  join  the  revolutionary  forces. 

When  I  went  to  visit  the  Coles  I  had  no  intention  of 
asking  any  favor,  but  simply  wished  to  show  them  the 
documents  concerning  the  guns  surrendered  by  Cipri- 
ano, which  numbered  192,  the  papers  being  signed  by 
Captain  Gale.     I  also  went  to  find  out  the  real  reason 


STORY   OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       143 

for  the  imprisonment  of  Lorenzo  and  Manuel,  and  he 
told  me  that  he  believed  it  was  a  general  measure, 
and  above  all  to  oblige  our  brother  Sixto  to  come.  And 
when  I  told  him  that,  according  to  the  newspapers,  Sixto 
had  already  gone  away,  he  seemed  startled  and  told  me 
that  it  was  a  mistake  on  the  part  of  his  countrymen 
to  proceed  against  our  brothers  in  this  way ;  that  they 
ought  to  have  realized  that  Sixto  has  his  own  ideas,  and 
thinks  as  a  man  who  has  lived  many  years  abroad,  and 
would  on  no  account  sacrifice  his  ideals  for  the  good  of 
his  family,  since  he  had  no  more  to  do  with  our  actions 
than  we  had  with  his.  Elias  Agoncillo  is  also  impris- 
oned on  account  of  his  brother  [Felipe,  —  Aguinaldo's 
former  representative  at  Washington],  and  it  is  said  that 
he  will  remain  a  prisoner  as  long  as  his  brother  does  not 
surrender.  All  these  deeds  and  many  others  which  horrify 
me  are  daily  food  in  our  poor  province.  If  you  could  see 
our  family  and  hear  us  talk  about  these  invaders  of  our 
land  it  would  astonish  you,  for  our  attitude  has  radically 
changed,  seeing  so  much  injustice  and  outrage.  We  do 
not  now  believe  in  any  of  them ;  they  are  all  false ; 
friendship  means  nothing  to  them ;  all  they  care  for  is 
to  win  glory  and  laurels  in  the  end.  According  to  their 
nature  they  have  treated  us.  It  has  been  hardly  four 
months  since  your  departure,  and  we  are  undeceived  and 
filled  with  resentment  toward  this  Government,  which 
will  go  to  any  length  to  bring  about  peace,  sacrificing 
many  innocent  people  and  committing  abuses.  It  will 
not,  however,  be  possible  for  them  to  bring  about  moral 
peace,  only  physical ;  and  I  for  my  part  will  never  forget 
these  offenses.  Nevertheless,  many  Manila  Filipinos 
approve  this  course  of  action,  for  otherwise  these  don- 
keys think  there  would  never  be  an  end  ;  and  there  was 
even  one,  Dr.  Vadua,  who  spoke  of  these  events  with 
loud  congratulations  [literally,  "  wagging  his  jawbones 
in  the  air  "],  praising  these  measures,  and  declaring  that 
this  is  what  ought  to  have  been  done  from  the  begin- 
ning. .  .  . 


144       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

Say  for  us  to  that  very  kind  family  that  we  are  most 
grateful  for  all  that  they  are  doing  for  you,  and  give 
many  kisses  to  cunning  little  Marjorie,  who,  you  tell 
me,  is  very  sweet  and  not  at  all  shy.  I  do  not  always 
have  time  to  write  you,  and  you  will  pardon  me  and  be 
satisfied  with  once  a  week.  This  morning  I  received  a 
letter  from  the  captain  at  Malagi,  who  tells  me  that 
Lorenzo  and  Manuel  are  well.  For  a  week  now  we 
have  heard  nothing  of  Andrea  and  Cipriano. 

Mother  sends  you  word  to  study  French,  too,  so  that 
when  you  come  back  you  will  know  both  French  and 
English. 

Good-bye.     With  love,  Ninay, 


[The  following  letter  tells  of  the  interview  with  Gen- 
eral Bell,  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made,  and 
of  its  most  discouraging  outcome  —  to  put  it  thus 
mildly.  Here  were  two  young  girls  in  circumstances  of 
peculiar  helplessness  :  without  a  father's  protection,  their 
brothers  in  prison,  their  property  seized,  and  themselves 
at  the  mercy  of  a  powerful  military  authority.  Under 
such  circumstances,  honor  and  gallantry  would  at  least 
have  dictated  the  extension  of  common  courtesy,  to  say 
nothing  of  kindness  or  sympathy.  But  what  has  been 
said  of  Captain  Taggart  applies  with  even  greater  force 
to  General  Bell ;  though  perhaps  enough  has  already  been 
said  of  this  incident,  especially  since  General  Bell  has 
made  the  amende  honorable. 

The  description  of  the  despondent  condition  of  Lorenzo, 
whose  life  had  theretofore  been  made  up  of  labor  and 
sacrifice  for  the  younger  members  of  the  family,  is 
pathetic ;  and  what  is  to  be  said  of  Juliana's  closing 
words  }  "  I  am  now  very  sleepy.  I  am  writing  you  at 
night,  because  the  only  time  when  we  leave  mother  is 
when  she  goes  to  sleep.  We  are  always  at  her  side, 
entertaining  her  with  stories."  Imperialism,  these  are 
your  "savages" !] 


Maria    Lopez 

The   youngest  of   t/if   Lopez  sisters 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       145 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  March  14,  1902. 

Dear  Sister  Clemen  :  More  and  more  every  day  I 
lose  hope  of  obtaining,  at  present,  the  liberation  of  our 
poor  prisoners  ;  at  least  until  our  province  is  pacified,  for 
Bell  told  us  so  when  at  last  we  had  an  opportunity  to 
talk  with  him  here  in  Manila,  imploring  him  to  liberate 
our  brothers.  He  refused  us  roundly,  saying  that  these 
imprisonments  are  the  only  efficacious  method  of  promptly 
pacifying  the  country,  and  that  the  Government,  which 
has  given  him  full  power  to  do  whatever  seems  to  him 
best,  is  now  tired  of  treating  us  kindly  and  of  giving  us 
good  reasons,  to  which  we  pay  no  attention.  Therefore, 
without  investigation  or  consideration,  he  will  treat  every 
one  alike  until  Malvar  surrenders.  When  I  told  him 
that  it  would  be  an  act  of  justice  if  he  were  first  to 
ascertain  the  facts  concerning  the  previous  conduct  of 
the  three  prisoners,  from  the  Americans  who  are  and 
have  been  stationed  at  Balayan,  —  and  I  assured  him 
they  could  give  no  information  concerning  any  act  worthy 
of  the  punishment  which  our  brothers  have  been  suffer- 
ing for  three  months,  — do  you  know  what  he  answered 
me.?  Well,  in  the  first  place,  that  he  does  not  require 
information  from  anybody,  and  that  he  knows  what  he  is 
doing,  and,  moreover,  that  those  to  whom  I  referred  as 
our  friends  are  candid  and  good  like  all  Americans,  and 
believe  us  to  be  the  same,  never  dreaming  that  we  are 
Filipinos  who,  educated  by  the  Spaniards,  are  deceiving 
them  by  our  false  protestations  of  friendship ;  in  a  word, 
he  said  a  number  of  things  which  showed  his  hatred  of 
the  Filipinos,  l^elieve  me,  Clemen,  in  different  circum- 
stances I  should  not  have  kept  silent  under  such  insults 
as  he  offered  us,  no  matter  who  he  was  ;  but  I  was 
prudent  because  I  remembered  the  three  who  are  in  his 
power. 

What  a  cruel  disillusion  we  are  suffering  through  these 
people !     Quita  says  that  I  went  too  far  in  giving  him 


146       STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

the  reasons  that  I  did,  which,  she  thinks,  hardened  him 
against  granting  what  we  asked,  and  she  even  beUeves 
that  he  may  revenge  himself  more  than  ever  on  our 
prisoners,  maltreating  them.  I  do  not  yet  know  the 
reason  why  Bell  has  shown  himself  so  harsh  toward  us, 
and  I  believe  if  God  does  not  come  to  our  aid  our  situa- 
tion may  become  worse  yet,  tor  poor  mother  now  does 
not  pass  a  single  minute  without  thinking  of  our  brothers, 
and  we  no  longer  know  how  to  console  her,  so  that  she 
may  not  be  so  unhappy.  .  .   . 

The  greater  part  of  the  prisoners  from  Lipa  are  now 
free,  but  our  brothers  not  yet.  Lorenzo  is  the  one  who 
is  the  most  depressed  by  it,  according  to  one  of  his 
fellow-sufferers,  who  yesterday  was  set  at  liberty.  He 
says  that  during  the  whole  time  that  they  were  together 
he  never  saw  Lorenzo  even  smile,  except  when,  hearing 
of  his  liberation,  Lorenzo  congratulated  him.  You  can 
imagine,  then,  what  it  must  have  been  for  him  all  these 
three  months,  separated  from  us,  and  in  such  a  way. 

Sometimes  I  imagine  that  all  the  authorities  here 
refuse  us  on  account  of  your  departure  for  America.  If 
this  is  not  so,  why  should  Bell  tell  me  that  he  would 
humiliate  all  those  of  our  class  who  had  such  pride  .■* 
This  is  a  poor  supposition,  and  so  I  hope  you  will  not 
tell  anybody  of  it.  We  are  all  in  good  health,  and  hope 
the  same  for  them. 

Good-bye.  I  am  now  very  sleepy.  I  am  writing  you 
at  night,  because  the  only  time  when  we  leave  mother  is 
when  she  goes  to  sleep.  We  are  always  at  her  side, 
entertaining  her  with  stories. 

Good-bye.     Your  sister  who  loves  you, 

NiNAY. 


[In  the  following  letter  will  be  found  an  exceedingly 
frank  admission  by  General  Bell  himself  of  the  spirit 
in  which  he  undertook  the  conquest  of  Batangas  prov- 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY        147 

ince,  "  All  consideration  and  regard,"  he  says,  "for  the 
inhabitants  of  this  place  cease  from  the  day  that  I  be- 
come commander.  ...  I  have  the  force  and  the  author- 
ity to  do  whatever  seems  to  me  good,  and  especially 
to  humiliate  all  those  in  this  province  who  have  any 
pride.  ...  I  will  see  to  it  that  their  mocking  laughter, 
when  they  hear  of  the  death  of  any  of  our  men,  shall 
be  quickly  turned  into  tears  of  blood,  which  the  measures 
I  shall  enforce  will  make  them  shed."  This  is  the  spirit 
of  vengeance.  Was  General  Bell  forgetful  of  the  truth 
that  the  man  who  assumes  the  prerogative  of  a  higher 
Power  may  have  a  heavy  account  to  meet  when  the  eter- 
nal books  are  opened  ?  * 

But  the  most  remarkable  part  of  General  Bell's  admis- 
sion is  that,  unlike  his  predecessors,  he  is  not  going  to  be 
"deceived"  by  the  Filipinos  when  they  say  that  "they 
are  satisfied  with  the  Government."  If  this  means  any- 
thing it  means  that  when  the  Filipinos  declare  their  sat- 
isfaction with  American  rule  they  are  deceiving  the 
authorities.  What,  then,  is  the  value  of  the  oft -repeated 
assertion,  made  by  Governor  Taft  and  others,  that  the 
Filipinos  are  satisfied  with  American  rule  ?  Does  Gov- 
ernor Taft  know  more  of  the  mind  of  the  Filipinos  than 
they  themselves  ?  Here  is  clearly  a  dilemma  from  which 
there  is  no  apparent  escape.  Either  General  Bell  has 
inflicted  a  great  and  cruel  injustice  upon  the  Filipinos, 
or  Governor  Taft  and  others  are  being  "deceived." 
Governor  Taft  accepts  these  assurances  of  being  "  satis- 
fied with  the  Government "  as  a  tribute  to  his  methods 
of  civil  rule ;  General  Bell  declares  these  assurances  to 
be  a  deceit,  for  which  he  will  make  the  deceivers  shed 
"  tears  of  blood  "  !  Both  conclusions  may  be  false,  but 
both  cannot  be  true. 

There  is  another  dilemma  in  this  connection.  Two 
reasons  have  been  given  for  the  "  marked  severity  "  of 


*  Since  the  above  was  written,  a  letter  has  come  from  Juliana  which 
states  that  General  Bell  is  reported  to  be  "suffering  from  remorse." 


148       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

the  war  in  the  Philippines  :  one  is  that  the  methods  pur- 
sued were  simply  methods  of  war,  common  to  all  civil- 
ized conflicts,  including  the  civil  war  in  America ;  the 
other  is  that  the  methods  were  a  response  —  not  exactly 
in  the  form  of  vengeance  or  reprisal,  but  as  a  necessity 
—  to  the  treachery  and  cruelty  of  the  Filipinos.  Now, 
if  both  these  statements  are  true,  —  and  they  are  sup- 
ported by  equal  authority, — how  is  one  to  avoid  the 
conclusion,  either  that  the  soldiers  of  the  Confederate 
army  were  as  treacherous  and  cruel  as  the  Filipinos  are 
alleged  to  be,  or  that  unnecessary  severity  and  cruelty 
were  practised  by  the  soldiers  of  the  Union  ? 

But  why  force  the  argument  ?  Is  it  not  the  soldier's 
business  to  kill,  to  be  victorious  ?  Does  any  one  fondly 
imagine  that  the  soldier  —  carrying  his  life  in  his  hand, 
daily  acquainted  with  death  and  destruction,  suffering 
hardship  and  privation,  and  far  from  all  gentle  and 
restraining  influences  —  will  always  abide  by  the  carpet 
niceties  of  the  Geneva  Convention  ?  Men  are  men,  not 
angels.  The  responsibility  for  it  all  rests  upon  him  who 
lets  loose  the  dogs  of  war. 

Does  this  mean  that  war  ought  never  to  be  under- 
taken .-*  No,  but  it  means  that  wherever  there  is  war 
there  will  be  its  attendant  horrors,  and  that  therefore 
war  ought  only  to  be  engaged  in  under  righteous  neces- 
sity, such  as  national  self-defense  or  the  giving  of  assist- 
ance to  a  weaker  people  against  cruel  despotism.] 

[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  P.  I.,  March  23,  1902. 
Dearest  Clemen  :  I  have  nothing  new  to  tell  you 
about  our  wretched  situation  here  in  Manila,  for  we  do 
not  go  anywhere  unless  we  have  some  hope  of  obtaining 
a  grain  of  justice  for  our  brothers,  who  are  still  deported. 
We  are  convinced  that,  alone,  I  can  do  nothing  to  better 
our  situation,  and  on  this  account,  although  they  tell  me 
that  it  makes  no  difference,  I  regret  your  absence  under 
these  conditions  much  more  than  I  otherwise  should,  for 


STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       149 

I  keep  thinking  that  if  you  had  been  here  they  would 
have  paid  more  attention  to  you  than  they  have  paid  to 
me.  I  can  hardly  believe,  in  short,  that  our  brothers, 
innocent  as  they  are  of  what  they  have  been  accused  of, 
should  actually  have  been  so  long  imprisoned  and  should 
have  been  made  to  suffer  such  punishment,  —  all  this 
under  a  Government  whose  representatives  boast  of  being 
just  and  liberal,  especially  toward  those  who  are  upright 
and  of  good  position.  And  for  this  reason,  if  the  people 
in  America  do  not  quickly  remedy  this  evil,  we  shall 
become  more  and  more  convinced  that  all  foreign  gov- 
ernments, civilized  or  barbarous,  are  alike  so  far  as  we  are 
concerned.  We  now  see  that  always,  when  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  winning  glory,  and  it  suits  their  convenience, 
there  is  no  justice  which  can  restrain  them,  but  that  they 
will  go  to  any  length,  even  though  many  lives  be  sacri- 
ficed. General  Bell,  when  he  trampled  Batangas  under 
foot,  said  :  "  All  consideration  and  regard  for  the  inhabi- 
tants of  this  place  cease  from  the  day  that  I  become 
commander.  It  has  been  said  that  my  predecessors  were 
too  weak  when  they  treated  these  people  differently  from 
the  manner  in  which  I  now  propose  to  treat  them.  Even 
though  they  call  me  a  brute,  as  I  know  they  do,  it 
does  not  disturb  me ;  I  shall  follow  out  the  course  I 
have  planned,  for  I  am  not  weak ;  I  have  the  force  and 
the  authority  to  do  whatever  seems  to  me  good,  and 
especially  to  humiliate  all  those  in  this  province  who 
have  any  pride.  They  have  deceived  my  predecessors 
too  much,  with  their  false  friendship  for  them,  to  go  on 
and  deceive  me  also  by  saying  that  they  are  satisfied 
with  the  Gov^ernmcnt.  Therefore  I  will  see  to  it  that 
their  mocking  laughter,  when  they  hear  of  the  death  of  any 
of  our  men,  shall  be  quickly  turned  into  tears  of  blood, 
which  the  measures  I  shall  enforce  will  make  them  shed." 
As  you  will  see,  all  that  he  has  promised  he  has  carried 
out,  and  he  will  keep  on  until  he  succeeds  in  pacifying 
the  province,  which  they  say  he  will  do  with  the  capture 
or  surrender  of  General  Malvar.     But  meanwhile  thev 


I50      STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

will  keep  imprisoned  all  those  whom  they  believe  to  have 
influence  over  the  minds  of  Malvar  or  Sixto. 

As  I  told  you  in  my  previous  letter,  they  took  Cipri- 
ano  to  Batangas.  We  have  just  heard,  from  a  reliable 
source,  that  they  have  taken  his  declaration  concerning 
the  guns,  and  that  he,  as  is  natural,  has  denied  the 
existence  of  the  guns,  and  said  that,  if  there  were  still 
any  guns  in  Balayan  which  have  not  been  surrendered, 
they  must  be  those  of  some  of  his  soldiers  who  had 
deserted  during  his  illness  while  he  held  command  in 
Balayan,  and  that  accordingly  he  had  nothing  to  do  with 
them.  Since  that  day  Bell,  as  well  as  the  provost,  who 
are  worthy  one  of  the  other,  have  treated  him  well, 
allowing  him  to  go  about  the  town  without  a  guard  and 
to  sleep  in  a  private  house.  They  are  employing  him 
and  E.  Marasigan,  who  was  also  imprisoned  and  treated 
worse  than  our  brothers,  as  interpreters  for  the  prisoners 
who  do  not  speak  Spanish  and  for  the  paymasters  who 
receive  surrendered  guns.  Accordingly  we  are  not  so 
much  troubled  about  Cipriano,  who  can  adapt  himself  to 
any  situation,  and  even  if  conditions  were  worse  it  would 
be  nothing  new  to  him.  The  one  we  think  of  most  is 
poor  Lorenzo,  who  is  still  in  Malagi  with  Manuel  and 
Felix,  and  none  of  them  knows  yet  of  what  he  is  ac- 
cused. Nevertheless  it  is  easier  for  us  to  communicate 
with  them  than  with  those  who  are  in  Batangas,  as  we 
can  send  them  everything  we  wish  and  write  to  them 
without  fear  that  the  letters  will  not  all  be  given  to 
them,  for  they  have  had  the  good  fortune  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  very  good  men ;  from  the  captain  in  com- 
mand to  the  last  soldier,  they  are  all  generous.  Those 
who  come  from  there  say  that  Lorenzo  is  in  good  health, 
as  well  as  Manuel ;  that  they  are  well,  and  that  the  lat- 
ter has  become  Spanish  teacher  to  the  two  ladies  who 
are  there.  One  of  the  ladies  is  the  wife  of  the  first 
lieutenant,  and  the  other  of  the  doctor.  Everybody  is 
kind  to  them  and  pities  them,  hoping  that  they  will  soon 
be  set  at  liberty. 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       151 

Last  night  Charles  came  and  told  me,  among  other 
things,  that  Captain  Langhorne  is  here ;  he  has  just 
arrived,  and  it  is  supposed  that  he  is  going  to  Batangas. 
I  leave  comment  to  you  ! 

One  of  the  things  that  is  troubling  Ouita  and  me  is 
the  existence  of  cholera,  for  since  the  day  before  yester- 
day, according  to  the  newspapers,  several  have  died  of 
this  disease,  which  is  attacking  chiefly  the  Chinese  and 
the  soldiers.  We  ought  not  to  have  allowed  ourselves  to 
be  caught  here  in  Manila,  where  we  are  shut  up  without 
being  allowed  to  leave  the  city  unless  we  submit  to  the 
precautions  which  the  board  of  health  is  taking.  You 
know  that  every  steamer  or  boat  that  leaves  here  for 
any  other  province  will  be  quarantined  four  days  before 
the  passengers  are  allowed  to  disembark  at  any  port.  It 
is  now  a  month  since  we  have  been  trying  to  persuade 
mother  to  go  to  Balayan,  because  we  saw  that  here  she 
was  always  grieving,  and  had  nothing  to  do  to  occupy 
her  ;  but  after  a  while  I  was  convinced  that  she  would 
be  worse  off  there,  where  she  could  not  communicate  so 
easily  with  you  and  Sixto,  and  that  she  had  better  stay 
here  until  our  brothers  are  liberated,  or  until  news  comes 
that  you  have  arrived  at  your  destination.  When  she 
sees  us  so  troubled  about  the  cholera  she  scolds  us ; 
and,  believe  me,  we  really  are  troubled ;  but,  according 
to  Charles,  they  are  taking  so  many  precautions  that  it 
will  not  increase.  We  often  ask  ourselves  which  is  pref- 
erable, the  persecution  of  Bell  or  the  cholera  !  We  are 
afraid  of  going  where  we  shall  be  under  his  power,  and 
we  do  not  know  what  we  shall  decide  to  do. 

Tell  our  friend  that  I  do  not  forget  him  and  his  favor- 
ite phrase,  which  I  imagine  I  can  still  hear  him  saying; 
and  give  him  and  his  dear  family  our  most  affectionate 
regards.  .  .  . 

Your  sister  who  loves  you,  Ninay, 


-»> 


152       STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ   FAMILY 


[''  I  went  to  talk  with  General  Bell,"  writes  Juliana  in 
the  following  letter,  "  and  implored  from  him  the  libera- 
tion of  our  brothers,  showing  him  that  all  the  denuncia- 
tions against  them  were  false  ;  and  he  refused  me,  saying 
that  he  had  positive  proof." 

A  palpable  error  of  judgment  on  the  part  of  those  in 
authority  is  destructive  of  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the 
people.  So  too,  if  a  person,  conscious  of  his  own  innocence, 
is  told  that  there  is  "  positive  proof  "  of  his  guilt,  his  faith 
in  the  judge  is  liable  to  be  impaired  !  Cipriano  was 
innocent  of  the  charge  informally  made  against  him  ; 
General  Bell  has  admitted  as  much,  not  only  by  abandon- 
ing the  charge,  but  by  a  series  of  acts  of  courtesy  incon- 
sistent with  a  belief  in  Cipriano's  guilt.  What,  then,  has 
become  of  the  "  positive  proof  "  ?] 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  March  27,  1902. 

DEAREST  Clemen  :  We  have  received  all  your  letters 
from  Paris,  and  last  of  all  your  letter  of  the  14th  from 
London,  and  we  are  very  happy  to  learn  from  them  that 
you  remain  in  good  health  and  have  pleasant  impressions 
of  the  places  where  you  have  been.  We  were  also  very 
much  pleased  that  you  found  Pepe  in  good  health,  well 
advanced  in  his  studies,  and  so  transformed  in  his 
ways  of  acting  and  thinking.  He  has  not  written  to 
us  for  some  time,  so  that  we  know  nothing  of  him 
directly. 

I  understand  your  impatience  and  uncertainty  when 
you  get  no  letter  from  us,  knowing  in  what  situation  you 
left  us,  but  I  hope  now  that  you  will  receive  our  news 
regularly,  for  I  have  not  failed  to  write  you  since  your 
departure,  addressing  you  in  America,  and  I  have  always 
written  you  at  least  twice  a  week,  giving  you  all  the 
details. 

As  you  will  understand,  our  situation  has  changed  in 


STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       153 

nothing  ;  days  and  days  go  by  and  still  they  do  not  grant 
the  liberty  of  our  brothers.  Since  I  went  to  talk  with 
General  Bell,  and  implored  from  him  the  liberation  of 
our  brothers,  showing  him  that  all  the  denunciations 
against  them  were  false,  and  he  refused  me,  saying  that 
he  had  positive  proof,  —  since  then,  I  have  decided  not 
to  speak  to  any  authority  here  concerning  the  matter, 
for  it  is  only  too  evident  that  they  all  agree  to  these 
measures  and  have  no  desire  to  protect  anybody,  least 
of  all  our  family. 

The  one  thing  I  do,  and  never  fail  to  do,  is  always  to 
send  our  brothers  everything  they  need,  and  to  console 
our  mother  when  she  is  unhappy  ;  the  rest  I  leave  in 
God's  hands,  for  he  alone  can  help  us.  To-day  is  Holy 
Thursday,  and  for  us  it  is  like  any  other  day !  How 
different  from  other  years,  when  our  brothers  came  home 
for  their  vacations  and  the  whole  family  was  united  !  On 
the  other  hand,  the  change  in  our  family  is  not  so  notable 
as  the  change  in  the  customs  which  our  countrymen  are 
acquiring  in  regard  to  days  like  these,  which  formerly 
have  always  been  respected  by  everybody,  so  that  no- 
body went  out  during  these  two  days  except  on  foot ; 
but  now  many  go  out  in  their  carriages  as  they  would 
at  any  other  time,  and  there  are  not  so  many  who  visit 
the  churches  as  there  were  in  other  years.  Indeed,  it 
appears  very  strange  to  me ;  I  do  not  mean  to  criticize, 
but  it  seems  to  me  they  should  not  have  done  this,  being 
Filipinos. 

This  morning,  and  indeed  all  day,  Quita  and  I  were 
very  sad,  for  we  missed  you  all,  and  were  homesick  for 
Balayan.  As  for  our  imprisoned  brothers,  I  hope  that 
it  has  not  been  the  same  with  them,  and  that  they  have 
not  noticed  that  this  is  Holy  Week  ;  it  would  be  better  so, 
and  they  would  not  despair  so  much.  This  week  I  have 
not  been  able  to  send  them  anything,  as  it  is  forbidden 
for  persons  or  goods  to  leave  the  capital  since  cholera 
morbus  has  been  declared  to  exist  here  in  Manila  and 
they  do  not  wish  it  to  spread  to  the  provinces.     Up  to 


154       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

the  present,  only  twenty  cases  have  been  heard  of,  and 
some  six  of  these  have  died.  You  must  not  trouble 
yourself  about  this,  although,  indeed,  I  am  myself  rather 
anxious  ;  for  they  are  taking  every  precaution  and  it  will 
soon  disappear  like  the  bubonic  plague.  The  authorities 
here  are  doing  everything  possible  to  effect  this. 

I  have  learned  from  Balayan  that  they  are  crushing 
[the  sugar-cane]  now ;  that  the  country  people  can  work 
as  they  used  to  do ;  and  that  they  allow  those,  who  so  de- 
sire, to  go  from  one  town  to  another,  —  except  the  people 
in  Tuy,  where,  up  to  the  time  that  Andrea  wrote  me,  the 
people  still  remained  reconcentrated  in  the  town,  not 
even  being  allowed  to  go  out  for  necessities.  As  for  our 
superintendents  of  Dao,  Toong,  and  Matauanak,  they 
have  been  liberated.  They  are  now  in  Tuy,  and  are 
not  allowed  to  go  to  Balayan  or  to  order  the  crushing 
in  Dao.  They  say  that  the  corn  and  rice  from  our 
fields  near  that  town  have  been  taken  to  feed  the  horses. 
I  cannot  tell  you  what  troops  are  there  now,  but  formerly 
there  was  a  company  of  Macabebes. 

As  I  told  you  in  my  previous  letter,  Cipriano  is 
employed  as  interpreter  for  cases  in  the  provost's  office 
in  Batangas,  and  is  almost  as  though  free.  I  am  more 
troubled  about  the  two  who  are  in  Malagi,  especially 
Lorenzo.  I  do  not  know  what  Lorenzo  will  say  about 
us  ;  I  think  he  believes  that  we  are  doing  nothing  for  his 
liberation.  I  want  to  tell  you  that  one  of  Bell's  orders 
was  to  make  all  the  prisoners  work,  including  the  polit- 
ical prisoners  ;  but  he  excluded  our  brothers  from  this 
order,  I  do  not  know  why.  Nevertheless,  they  say  that 
by  mistake  Cipriano  was  made  to  work  in  the  streets  of 
Batangas  for  three  days. 

I  will  end  now  because  I  am  sleepy.  Do  not  forget 
to  send  pictures  of  Mrs.  Warren,  Miss  Osgood,  the  two 
children,  and  yourself.  The  box  of  clothes  which  we 
sent  to  Hong-Kong  for  Sixto  to  take  to  you  we  know 
now,  through  Inez,  did  not  reach  him.  Aticlaiz,  who 
was  too  slow,  is  to  blame  for  this.     We  wrote  to  Don 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPKZ    FAMILY       155 

Pepe  to  send  it  back,  and  when  it  comes  we  will  try- 
to  send  it  by  some  friend.  I  also  sent  our  brother 
some  boxes  of  cigars,  as  well  as  some  to  Tom.  from  our 
mother,  and  I  am  more  sorry  than  ever  when  I  think 
that  these  did  not  go. 

Good-bye.     Do  not  forget  about  the  pictures. 

Your  sister,  Ninay. 


[There  is  food  for  thought  in  what  Juliana  says  about 
the  growing  indifference  of  the  people  to  the  strict 
observance  of  holy  days.  The  danger  to  the  Catholic 
Church  in  the  Philippines  does  not  rest  in  the  retention 
or  the  expulsion  of  the  friars ;  it  lies  in  the  natural 
tendency  of  a  conquered  people  gradually  to  adopt  the 
religion  of  their  rulers.  The  example  of  the  conqueror 
has  much  to  do  with  it ;  as  also  the  desire  of  the  people 
to  please  and  be  like  those  in  authority.  Failure  to 
observe  the  outward  forms  of  religion  is  the  first  evi- 
dence of  the  change,  —  the  thin  end  of  an  insidious 
wedge.  Protestants  may  derive  satisfaction  from  all 
this  ;  and  the  Catholics  in  America  who  have  supported 
the  policy  of  material  conquest  ought  not  to  complain 
if  there  is  a  religious  conquest  as  well.  The  chief  hope 
of  the  Church  in  the  Philippines  lies  in  the  strength  and 
maintenance  of  the  aspiration  for  independence ;  for  as 
long  as  this  aspiration  remains,  the  American  rulers  will 
not  be  looked  upon  as  examples  for  the  people  to  follow, 
and  their  religion  will  not  find  special  favor  with  those 
who  are  opposed  to  them  politically. 


The  following  letter  to  Mr.  Warren  is,  among  other 
things,  a  complete  antithesis  to  Captain  Taggart's  opin- 
ion, formerly  referred  to.  "  Perhaps,"  writes  Juliana, 
"  this  is  because  you  are,  in  truth,  one  of  the  few  Ameri- 


156       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

cans  who,  coming  to  our  unfortunate  country,  have,  on 
their  departure,  left  an  imperishable  and  pleasant  memory 
with  those  who  had  the  honor  of  knowing  them  well." 
Attention  is  drawn  to  this,  not  with  the  petty  idea  of 
making  personal  comparisons,  but  in  order  to  show  what 
might  have  been,  had  a  policy  of  kindness  and  good  will 
been  adopted  from  the  first.  There  would  then  have 
been  no  necessity  for  war  or  for  "tears  of  blood."  Yet 
America  would  have  been  able  to  accomplish  everything 
that  she  has  accomplished,  nay,  much  more  than  she  will 
ever  accomplish  by  means  of  war,  —  in  civilization,  in 
education,  in  philanthropy,  in  liberty,  and  in  commerce 
and  natural  expansion.  Her  civilization  would  have 
been  an  acknowledged  fact,  not  a  boast ;  her  educators 
would  have  been  welcomed  with  open  gratitude,  not 
simply  suffered  in  sullen  ill  will ;  her  philanthropy  would 
have  been  free  from  the  suspicion  of  self-seeking  or  per- 
sonal gain ;  her  work  for  the  liberation  of  the  world 
would  have  been  projected  into  another  hemisphere;  and 
her  commercial  enterprise  would  have  been  welcomed  by 
all  the  nations  of  the  East  without  that  justifiable  sus- 
picion which  attaches  to  the  land-thieves  of  the  Old 
World,  —  and  all  this  without  the  loss  of  a  life  or  the 
wasting  of  a  dollar !  The  truth  of  this  has  been  proved 
in  the  case  of  Cuba,  where,  after  the  summary  defeat 
of  Spain,  neither  life  nor  treasure  was  sacrificed.  But 
then  —  Cuba  was  promised  independence  from  the  first. 
If  George  III.  and  the  British  parliament  had  declared 
that  the  American  colonists  "  are  and  of  a  right  ought 
to  be  free  and  independent,"  there  would  have  been  no 
bloodshed  nor  revolution  in  i  'j'j6.  But  history  repeats 
itself !] 

[From  Juliana  Lopez  to  Fiske  Warren.] 

Manila,  P.  I.,  March  27,  1902. 
My  very  dear  Friend,  Mr.  Warren  :  How  are  you, 
and  how  have  you  been  during  the  journey  which  you 
have  made  .-*     As  for  us,  we  are  all  the  same  as  regards 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       157 

health,  and  as  for  our  situation,  it  has  not  changed  in 
any  way,  —  my  brothers  are  prisoners  and  the  ports  of 
Batangas  are  still  closed.  Since  you  left  here,  where  so 
much  that  was  unfortunate  has  occurred,  not  a  single 
day  passes  that  we  do  not  think  of  you.  Perhaps  this 
is  because  you  are,  in  truth,  one  of  the  few  Americans 
who,  coming  to  our  unfortunate  country,  have,  on  their 
departure,  left  an  imperishable  and  pleasant  memory 
with  those  who  had  the  honor  of  knowing  them  well. 
For  this  reason  you  are  not  forgotten. 

I  have  not  yet  any  positive  knowledge  as  to  when 
that  great  day  for  all  my  family  will  come  when  we  shall 
see  our  brothers  free  and  with  us  once  more.  It  appears 
to  me  that,  up  to  the  present  time,  General  Bell  still 
maintains  the  idea,  in  spite  of  the  time  that  has  passed, 
that  by  the  imprisonment  of  my  brothers  he  will  bring 
about  the  surrender  of  Malvar.  It  lies  in  his  hands, 
then,  whether  we  shall  once  more  be  fortunate  and  happy. 
He  may  give  our  brothers  their  freedom,  convinced  that 
they  can  do  nothing  toward  the  presentation  of  Malvar, 
and  thus  we  should  escape  passing  more  wretched  days 
and  shedding  more  tears.  What  we  have  already  suf- 
fered ought  to  be  more  than  enough  to  convince  him 
and  soften  his  hard  heart. 

When  Mariquita  and  I  had  an  opportunity  to  speak 
with  him  here  in  Manila,  interceding  for  the  liberty  of 
my  brothers,  he  showed  himself  very  hard  toward  us, 
manifesting,  by  his  words  and  bearing,  the  hatred  which 
he  feels  toward  the  Filipinos  and  toward  our  family  in 
particular  ;  and  all  because  we  have  as  one  member  of 
the  family  my  brother  Sixto,  for  whom,  no  matter  what 
he  may  think  and  do,  my  other  brothers  are  not  respon- 
sible. Allow  me  to  say  that,  since  I  reached  the  age  of 
reason,  I  do  not  remember  ever  having  dealt  with  so 
rude  a  man  as  General  Bell ;  for,  not  content  with  re- 
fusing us  what  we  desired,  he  had  the  ill  breeding  to 
take  advantage  of  the  circumstances  to  tell  us  that  all 
Filipinos  are  false,  and  many  other  things  little  favor- 


158       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

able  to  the  Filipinos,  which  we  should  have  felt  very 
deeply  if  they  had  been  said  by  any  other  man  than 
General  Bell. 

As  you  see,  we  can  accomplish  nothing  satisfactory 
here,  so  that  we  are  hoping  that  the  liberty  of  our 
brothers  may  come  from  America. 

Clemencia  tells  me  in  her  letters  of  your  great  good- 
ness, and  of  that  of  your  family  toward  her,  for  which 
we  are  most  grateful. 

Receive  our  affectionate  regards,  and  dispose  of  your 
humble  friend,  Juliana  Lopez. 

[The  broadly  applicable  advice  to  "say  less,  —  or 
nothing  at  all !  "  should  not  be  disregarded  by  the  pres- 
ent commentator.  At  any  rate,  it  is  as  unwise  for  him 
to  say  too  much  as  to  say  too  little.  Adopting  Huxley's 
fine  simile  when  commenting  on  Hume,  —  it  is  as  well 
not  to  have  too  frequent  a  display  of  the  thread  on  which 
the  beads  are  strung. 

Therefore,  since  the  dramatis  personce  have  now  all 
been  introduced,  it  will  be  well  hereafter  to  let  them 
perform  their  parts  with  only  'such  help  as  may  be 
necessary  from  the  humble  though  perhaps  useful 
prompter.  There  is  another  reason  for  this  :  The 
letters  have  assumed  a  more  definite  character,  and 
form  an  almost  continuous  record,  owing  to  there  being 
later  and  more  reliable  information  at  the  command  of 
the  writers.] 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  P.  L,  April  7,  1902. 
Dearest  Clemen  :  We  received  your  letters  written 
on  board  the  "  Ivernia,"  and  are  greatly  delighted  that 
at  last  you  have  arrived  at  the  end  of  your  trip,  and 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPKZ    FAMILY        159 

without  any  accident  to  deplore.  Since  we  have  known 
that  you  are  in  America,  and  working  for  the  liberty  of 
our  brothers,  we  have  not  despaired  so  much,  for  we  feel 
almost  sure  that  you  will  obtain  everything  from  the 
authorities,  and  without  very  much  trouble. 

It  is  now  evident  that  we  can  do  nothing  here;  all  our 
prayers  and  efforts  are  in  vain.  Accordingly,  since  that 
day  when  I  had  the  displeasure  of  talking  with  Bell  and 
he  received  us  in  such  a  way,  we  have  decided  not  to  ask 
anything  of  anybody,  for  we  should  only  be  indebted  for 
more  and  more  favors,  and  there  would  be  no  result.  It 
has  been  nearly  two  weeks  since  we  received  a  letter 
from  our  brothers  or  from  Andrea,  but  I  suppose  they 

are  all  well,     Last  night came  and  showed  me  a 

letter  which  he  had  just  received  from  one  of  the  prison 
officials,  in  which  he  speaks  of  the  condition  of  our 
brothers,  saying  that  they  are  well  and  happy.  I  write 
to  them  often,  and  I  am  astonished  that  I  do  not  hear 
from  them. 

Thank  God,  we  are  all  well  here  in  Manila,  in  spite  of 
the  great  fear  we  have  of  the  cholera,  and  the  even 
greater  fear  of  the  board  of  health,  which  is  overdoing 
the  precautions  it  is  taking  to  avoid  any  increase  of  the 
epidemic.  In  a  way,  what  it  is  doing  is  good  ;  for  if  it 
did  not  take  these  precautions  there  would  be  many  more 
cases  of  the  disease,  and,  thank  God,  there  are  only  four 
or  five  cases  a  day.  .  .  .  We  are  very  particular  about 
our  food,  especially  Quita,  who  deprives  herself  of  every- 
thing she  is  fond  of,  so  you  do  not  need  to  worry  about 
that  !  God  will  not  permit  us  to  suffer  this,  because 
we  have  already  suffered  so  much  else  these  last  four 
months.  .   .  . 

Good-bye.  Many  regards  to  everybody.  You  are 
not  forgotten  by  Ninay, 


i6o      STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 


[From  Maria  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  April  ii,  1902 

Dearest  Clemen  :  I  have  received  all  your  letters, 
besides  those  which  you  wrote  to  Ninay,  and  we  are  very 
happy  that  you  continue  in  good  health  and  that  you 
have  passed  all  your  voyages  so  well.  The  last  letter 
we  received  from  you  was  dated  February  27th,  written 
on  board  the  steamer  for  Boston  ;  and  therefore  we  know 
that  you  have  now  been  there  more  than  a  month.  This 
makes  us  very  miserable,  for  up  to  the  present  time  the 
situation  of  our  brothers  has  not  changed  at  all.  We 
become  more  and  more  discouraged  as  day  after  day 
passes,  and  we  have  still  no  hope  of  seeing  them  soon 
liberated.  We  feel  much  worse  about  Lorenzo,  for,  as 
you  know,  he  is  never  well  when  he  is  away  from  home ; 
much  less  in  a  prison  as  he  is  now.  Moreover,  we  feel 
distressed,  especially  mother,  because  they  say  it  is  on 
Sixto's  account  that  they  are  imprisoned.  There  are 
some  days  when  I  cry  with  despair,  when  I  think  of 
them  and  of  our  helplessness,  and  of  how  far  away  you 
are  from  us,  because  we  need  you  very  much  indeed.  I 
am  sure  that  if  you  had  been  here  you  would  have  been 
able  to  do  something,  even  if  not  much,  for  no  one  coitld 
do  much.  Nevertheless,  many  people  say  you  have  done 
well  to  go ;  that  nothing  can  be  done  here ;  but  as  the 
days  of  your  stay  in  America  go  by,  we  become  very  un- 
happy, fearing  that  they  have  paid  no  attention  to  you, 
either.  In  spite  of  this,  we  have  great  hopes  of  your 
success,  and  God  grant  that  it  may  be  so,  for  I  believe  we 
have  suffered  enough  from  this  and  other  misfortunes, 
so  that  God  might  take  pity  on  us  now. 

I  am  very  grateful  for  your  letters.  All  that  you  tell 
us  delights  us,  and  I  hope  you  will  always  write,  for  it  is 
our  only  consolation.  We  here  have  nothing  to  tell  you, 
for  we  do  not  go  out  of  the  house  for  anything,  and  we 
see  no  one,  so  that  we  may  not  compromise  anybody. 
We  are  all   well,   including  mother,  who  is  somewhat 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       i6i 

better  than  for  months  past,  in  spite  of  her  troubles  ; 
but  she  is  always  sighing  for  the  freedom  of  our  poor 
brothers. 

Good  -  bye.  Give  our  affectionate  regards  to  Mr. 
Warren  and  his  family,  and  receive  a  big  hug  from 
your  sister,  who  does  not  forget  you,  Quita. 

Teresa  received  all  your  letters,  but  cannot  answer 
them  because  she  is  taking  her  examinations. 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  April  13,  1902. 

Dearest  Clemen  :  It  is  now  two  weeks  since  we 
have  received  a  letter  from  you,  and  you  can  understand 
that  we  are  impatient  to  know  how  you  are  and  what 
you  are  doing  for  our  brothers.  I  was  so  much  pre- 
occupied by  this  that  I  dreamed  one  night  that  at  last, 
after  hoping  so  much,  I  received  a  letter  from  you,  tell- 
ing what  you  had  attempted,  and  saying  that  you  could 
do  absolutely  nothing  there  for  the  good  of  the  family, 
because  the  persons  to  whom  you  applied  agreed  to 
everything  that  had  been  done  here;  and  finally,  that 
they  did  not  wish  to  interfere  with  the  measures  adopted 
by  Bell.  Imagine  how  miserable  I  have  been  since  that 
night.  It  is  true  that  one  ought  not  to  believe  in 
dreams,  but,  as  day  after  day  passes,  and  it  becomes 
clear  that  we  can  do  nothing  here,  it  also  seems  as  though 
you  could  obtain  nothing  from  the  authorities  there. 
Truly,  the  situation  is  desperate,  and  if  it  lasts  longer  I 
pray  God  to  give  me  some  other  thing  to  suffer,  for 
which  I  shall  not  have  to  blame  other  people, 

I  am  in  no  mood  to  do  anything,  and  I  only  write  you 
this  so  that  you  shall  see  that  I  do  not  forget  you  ; 
besides,  it  is  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  and  I  am  very 
sleepy. 


i62       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

We  are  all  in  good  health.  Tell  us  all  about  Sixto ; 
we  have  heard  nothing  from  him.  Mother  tells  me  to 
charge  you  to  take  note  of  all  you  have  seen,  so  that  you 
will  not  forget  it. 

With  love,  NiNAY. 


[After  the  foregoing  letter,  it  is  hardly  a  wonder  that 
some  persons  do  believe  in  dreams.  Juliana's  dream 
was  true  in  every  detail,  yet  it  needs  no  ultra-  super- 
preter-natural  explanation.  Her  own  waking  thoughts 
had  probably  divined  that  relief  was  to  be  had  neither 
"here"  nor  "there,"  and  the  dream  simply  made  the 
thought  real  —  in  appearance,  as  it  was  in  fact.  But 
how  is  it  that  "  The  Authorities,"  at  all  times  and  in 
every  nation,  are  so  impervious  .?  Is  it  that  the  elec- 
tric current  of  justice  becomes  impeded  by  the  non- 
conducting nature  of  red  tape }  Here  was  as  clear  and 
simple  a  case  as  was  ever  presented  to  higher  authority,  — 
a  charge  unfounded  and  unsupported  by  evidence;  an 
injustice  not  even  dictated  by  policy,  as  far  as  the  Lopez 
family  were  concerned  ;  nothing  gained,  and  nothing 
served,  by  the  detention  in  prison  of  the  brothers  Lopez. 
A  o;entle  reminder  that  the  President  was  President 
would  have  acted  as  a  mild  yet  wholesome  restraint  upon 
conscientious  but  perhaps  over-zealous  officers  in  the 
field.  Indeed,  the  President  was  "almost  persuaded," 
not  to  become  a  Christian,  but  to  do  an  act  of  Christian 
justice,  when  he  saw  Captain  Curry's  letter ;  yet  when 
the  case  was  surrendered  to  official  circumlocution, — 
well,  Juliana  might  indeed  be  troubled  with  dreams  of 
ill  omen  ! 

The  four  following  letters  contain  the  long  delayed 
but  joyful  news  of  the  release  of  the  brothers,  which 
was  supposed  to  have  taken  place  on  the  20th  of  April. 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       163 

In  reality,  Lorenzo  and  Manuel  were  not  released  until 
the  loth  of  May.  The  letters  tell  also  of  the  departure 
of  the  family  for  their  home  in  Balayan.] 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  P.  I.,  April  21,  1902. 

Dearest  Clemen  :  Since  we  received  your  letters 
written  on  board  the  "Ivernia,"  we  have  received  no 
others,  and  you  cannot  imagine  how  impatient  we  are 
when  we  do  not  hear  from  you.  I  was  even  more 
astonished  when  we  were  in  the  house  of  the  Losada 
family  three  days  ago,  and  they  showed  us  your  letter  to 
Dofia  Germana,  dated  the  4th  of  March.  I  do  not 
believe  that  you  would  stop  writing  to  us  and  write  to 
others  instead.  Therefore  I  prefer  to  impute  this  lack 
to  those  good  people  who  wish  to  trouble  us  by  detaining 
our  letters,  although  we  do  not  know  for  what  purpose 
they  do  this. 

You  will  already  know,  by  the  time  this  reaches  you, 
that,  according  to  the  newspapers  here,  Malvar  has 
surrendered  unconditionally,  and  therefore  it  may  be 
said  that  peace  in  the  Philippines  is  a  fact.  Last  night 
I  learned  from  our  very  good  friend,  Captain  Curry,  that 
our  brothers  are  now  liberated  ;  Bell  sent  him  a  telegram 
to  this  effect.  It  was  about  time,  wasn't  it }  But  better 
late  than  never.  The  poor  prisoners,  in  their  last  letters, 
did  not  complain  ;  indeed,  they  told  me  that  the  climate 
and  the  life  agreed  with  them,  and  that  they  were  in  good 
health,  including  Lorenzo.  You  will  not  believe  this,  any 
more  than  I  did  at  first,  but  it  is  true,  for  they  assure  us 
it  is  so.  Now  at  last  we  shall  see  them  soon,  and  then  I 
shall  assure  myself  of  the  truth.  But  for  this  we  have 
still  to  wait  nine  or  ten  days.  At  the  end  of  that  time 
the  ports  of  Batangas  will  be  opened,  and  we  shall  imme- 
diately go  to  join  them  at  Balayan.  I  do  not  know  how 
our  brothers  will  take  it  that  you  have  gone  alone,  for 
they  believed  that  you  had  gone  with  our  brother  Sixto. 


i64       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

Nevertheless,  do  not  let  this  trouble  you,  for  when  mother 
consents  to  anything  it  is  because  it  is  all  right. 

You  ask  me  in  your  letters  what  they  say  in  Manila 
of  your  going.  I  can  only  tell  you  a  few  stupid  com- 
ments made  by  envious  people.  Among  those  who  crit- 
icize you  are  the family,  —  as  usual,  for  they  are 

very  prudish  girls  in  every  way.  As  you  can  imagine, 
we  know  them  too  well  to  pay  any  attention  to  what 
they  say.  It  is  also  said  that,  at  a  ball  given  at 
the  International  Club,  you  were  the  one  topic  of  con- 
versation, because  you  had  gone  alone.  I  will  not  give 
names,  for  I  suppose  you  know  better  than  I  who  fre- 
quent those  Federalist  salons.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Americans  who  come  here  and  ask  for  you  look  upon  it 
as  a  very  natural  thing.  Besides,  I  tell  everybody  that 
it  is  probable  that  very  soon  Mariquita  or  I  shall  also 
go  alone  to  join  you  or  Pepe,  without  being  accompanied 
by  one  of  our  brothers ;  and  you  cannot  imagine  how 
some  people  look  when  they  hear  this  !  But  they  will 
get  accustomed  to  it. 

Mr.  Trace  arrived  this  morning,  with  his  wife,  and  this 
afternoon  came  to  call  on  us.  I  was  very  much  pleased 
by  the  return  of  such  a  good  friend  as  he  has  always  been 
to  us.  In  a  few  days  they  will  go  to  Balayan  to  continue 
teaching  in  the  school.  Although  I  have  not  yet  had  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  Mrs.  Trace,  I  suppose  that  in  time 
she  will  be  my  good  friend,  as  her  husband  is,  and  in  this 
way  I  shall  have  much  practice  in  English,  I  do  not 
progress  at  all  in  my  studies,  but,  on  the  contrary,  like 
the  crab,  I  go  backward.  I  am  not  in  the  mood  for 
doing  anything,  and  the  only  thing  I  do  is  to  write  to 
you  ;  for,  as  you  know,  I  do  write  often.  I  imagine  you 
have  no  complaint  of  me,  for  not  a  week  passes  that  I  do 
not  write. 

Mother  wants  you  to  stay  there  a  year  at  least,  and 
not  to  return  until  you  know  French  and  English.  Have 
your  picture  taken  in  European  costume  ;  we  want  to  see 
you  in  those  clothes.     I  cannot  imagine  why  you  and 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       165 

Pepc  did  not  have  your  pictures  taken  in  a  group.  We 
should  have  been  very  glad  if  you  had  thought  of  it, 
especially  on  mother's  account.  She  scolded  Quita 
because  she  was  not  photographed  with  Sixto  in  Hong- 
Kong.  .  .   . 

Tell  me  everything  that  happens,  for  now  I  shall  be 
interested  in  how  you  amuse  yourself,  admiring  the 
grandeur  and  beauty  of  those  cities.  Since  we  received 
the  news  yesterday,  my  mind  is  more  free. 

Good-bye  until  another  day,  and  remember  that  you 
are  loved  by  your  sister,  Ninay. 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  P.  I.,  April  24,  1902. 
Dearest  Clemen  :  I  am  improving  this  opportunity 
to  write  to  you,  because  at  this  moment  I  have  nothing 
else  to  do  nor  any  one  to  gossip  with,  since  mother  and 
Quita  have  gone  to  visit  the  Solis  family  and  to  say 
good-bye  to  them.  As  I  told  you  in  my  previous  letter, 
according  to  Captain  Curry,  our  brothers  have  been  free 
since  the  2 1  st  of  this  month.  We  should  have  liked  it 
if  they  had  been  set  free  here,  so  that  v^e  could  have 
seen  them  as  soon  as  possible ;  but  we  suppose  they 
were  taken  to  Batangas  so  that  our  confiscated  property 
could  be  returned  to  them.  We  have  not  yet  received 
any  letter  from  them,  but  this  afternoon  Luis  Luna  was 
here,  —  he  is  the  one  who  has  been  working  for  the  sur- 
render of  General  Malvar,  —  and  he  assured  us  that 
they  were  really  free.  I  do  not  believe  this  informa- 
tion can  be  false,  as  the  first  was,  considering  that  the 
surrender  of  Malvar  was  the  object  of  imprisoning  the 
people  of  Batangas ;  and  besides,  we  have  more  right  to 
believe  it  on  account  of  the  telegram  from  General  Bell 
to  Captain  Curr>',  telling  him  the  details  of  how  Cipri- 
ano,  less  than  two  weeks  ago,  went  to  Abra  de  Hog 
to  look  after  our  affairs  and  to  take  away  some  of  the 


i66       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

cattle  to  sell.  He  said,  moreover,  that  Cipriano  was 
liberated  on  parole,  and  was  allowed  certain  privileges. 
Believe  me,  I  cannot  understand  this  general's  methods, 
because,  while  Cipriano  has  enjoyed  this  freedom  for 
more  than  a  month,  Lorenzo  and  Manuel,  who  were 
imprisoned  on  his  account,  remained  on  the  island  of 
Malagi  until  the  2ist  of  this  month,  as  I  explained  to 
you  above. 

You  ought  to  know  that  in  the  month  of  February  I 
wrote  a  letter  to  General  Wheaton,  asking  him  for  a  pass 
to  take  cattle  from  Abra  de  Hog,  so  that  we  might  sell 
them  here,  explaining  our  situation  to  him,  for  we  were 
in  such  need  that  we  hardly  knew  what  to  do;  and 
besides,  we  wanted  to  send  our  brothers  some  things. 
But  this  general,  instead  of  deciding  the  matter,  sent 
the  letter  to  General  Bell,  to  ask  his  advice.  We  re- 
ceived, however,  no  answer  from  the  latter  either,  and 
we  only  knew  that  the  letter  had  been  sent  to  him 
because  he  spoke  of  it  when  we  went  to  see  him  about 
the  liberation  of  our  brothers.  He  (Bell)  told  us  then 
that  he  had  received  my  letter,  and  that  he  was  inclined 
to  do  us  this  favor  if  we  were  actually  in  need.  I  told 
him  that  we  were  ;  that  otherwise  I  should  not  have 
written  to  Wheaton.  "  But  it  seems  to  me  you  are  well 
off,"  he  said  to  us,  because  he  saw  that  we  wore  jewels 
and  were  well  dressed,  and  he  concluded  that  we  did  not 
really  need  the  money.  Finally,  he  said  so  much,  and 
was  so  suspicious  of  us,  that,  to  close  the  subject,  I  told 
him  that  when  I  wrote  General  Wheaton  I  did  not  sup- 
pose it  would  cause  him  much  trouble  to  give  us  a  pass, 
for  I  only  asked  permission  to  take  from  Mindoro  what 
belonged  to  us ;  and  then  I  got  up  to  go.  I  did  not  say 
a  word  more.  What  I  thought  and  felt  I  will  leave  to 
your  imagination,  for  you  know  me  very  well ! 

April  27th. 
I  could  not  finish  this  until  now,  because  visitors  came, 
and  afterward  I  was  no  longer  in  the  mood  for  writing. 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       167 

I  cannot  tell  you  certainly  what  day  we  go  to  Balayan, 
because,  as  you  will  understand,  we  are  not  very  desirous 
of  undergoing  the  five  days'  quarantine  required  of  all 
the  boats  which  leave  for  the  provinces.  It  is  indeed 
one  of  the  ways  of  preventing  the  spread  of  the  cholera, 
but  it  is  very  vexatious,  especially  for  people  like  us, 
who  wish  to  arrive  as  soon  as  possible  at  our  desti- 
nation. Up  to  the  present,  thank  God,  the  number 
of  deaths  has  not  exceeded  twenty-five  a  day,  and  that 
number  is  rare,  it  being  ordinarily  only  ten  or  fifteen. 
And  you  must  bear  in  mind  that  Manila  is  overcrowded 
with  people;  the  doctors  say  that  if  there  were  fifty 
cases  it  would  not  be  surprising,  considering  the  crowd- 
ing there  is  here  at  present.  In  Pampanga,  Bataan, 
Camarines,  and  Bulacan  there  are  also  cases  of  cholera 
daily,  according  to  the  official  records,  so  that  all  the 
precautions  of  the  health  departments  are  not  too 
much. 

Mother  says  to  tell  you  to  see  if  you  can  secure  com- 
pensation from  the  authorities  there  for  the  use  of  our 
boat  and  our  house. 

Good-bye.  Keep  well.  Give  our  affectionate  regards 
to  Mr.  Warren  and  all  the  family,  and  remember  that 
you  are  loved  by  your  sister,  Ninay. 


[From  Juliana  and  Maria  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  P.  I.,  May  i,  1902. 

Dearest  Clemen  :  We  are  just  preparing  to  start 
for  Balayan,  and  are  more  happy  than  you  can  think, 
that  at  last  w^e  are  going  without  owing  any  favors  to 
anybody.  Do  not  direct  any  more  letters  to  us  here.  I 
will  write  you  more  another  day. 

Our  best  wishes  to  Mr.  and  Miss  Warren ;  give  them 
our  most  affectionate  regards  ;  and  remember  that  you 
are  loved  by  Ninay. 


i68       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ   FAMILY 


Dear  Clemen  :  At  last  all  our  pains  and  troubles 
will  end.  To-morrow  afternoon,  at  four  o'clock,  we  start 
for  Balayan,  for  the  ports  are  now  open.  You  can 
imagine  how  happy  we  shall  be,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
we  shall  have  to  spend  iive  days'  quarantine  in  the  Bay 
on  account  of  the  epidemic  which  prevails  here ;  for 
we  do  not  mind  anything,  now  that  we  shall  meet  our 
brothers  in  Balayan.  I  am  so  sorry  that  you  cannot 
share  our  joy  with  us. 

Your  sister,  Quita. 


•r9i 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila  Bay,  P.  I.,  May  6,  1902. 
Dearest  Clemen  :  To-day  is  the  fifth  day  that  we 
have  been  quarantined  on  board  the  steamer  "  Germana," 
and  it  is  probable  that  early  to-morrow,  if  no  case  of 
cholera  occurs,  we  shall  start  for  Balayan.  Friday,  some 
hours  before  leaving  the  house,  we  received  two  letters 
from  you  at  the  same  time,  one  dated  in  Washington 
and  the  other  in  Boston.  I  was  very  glad  to  receive 
them  so  promptly,  for  now  I  can  give  a  good  account  to 
our  brothers  of  what  you  have  done  for  them,  and  I  am 
very  sure  that  they  will  be  pleased.  We  are  not  yet  sure 
whether  we  shall  meet  them  in  Balayan,  for  although 
we  are  told  positively  that  they  are  really  free  I  cannot 
feel  sure  until  I  see  them.  And  besides,  why  has  not 
the  "  Purisima  "  come  yet .?  It  is  now  more  than  two 
weeks  since  the  newspapers  told  of  the  freedom  of  the 
political  prisoners,  and,  if  our  brothers  are  free,  why  has 
not  the  boat  been  returned  >  We  shall  be  like  the 
owner  of  the  "Taaleiio,"  who,  instead  of  being  paid  for 
the  use  of  his  boat,  was  the  one  who  had  to  pay  the 
supposed  expenses  which  they  said  were  spent  on  re- 
pairs !  .  .  . 


'^ 


^ 


STORY    OF    THK    LOPEZ    FAMILY       169 

Alberto  read  your  letters,  and  he  said  it  looked 
as  if  the  authorities  there  had  fulfilled  their  promise, 
because,  besides  investigating  the  case  of  our  brothers, 
they  are  also  investigating  others.  What  I  do  not  under- 
stand yet  is  why  those  here  have  been  so  slow  in  carry- 
ing out  the  orders ;  they  even  waited  for  the  surrender 
of  Malvar.  If  the  orders  came  by  cable,  as  they  prom- 
ised you,  what  you  accomplished  there  ought  to  have 
taken  effect  a  month  ago ;  so  that,  if  it  were  not  for 
your  letters,  I  should  believe  that  the  liberation  of  our 
brothers  was  entirely  due  to  the  surrender  of  Malvar, 
and  that  we  owed  the  kindness  shown  our  brothers 
toward  the  last  entirely  to  General  Bell's  generous  heart. 
But  now  we  are  convinced  that  we  have  nothing  to  be 
grateful  for  to  him. 

When  we  arrive  in  Balayan  I  will  write  you  again,  and 
I  will  also  write  for  the  first  time  to  Miss  Warren.  Tell 
our  brother  that  I  wrote  him  two  letters,  which  I  directed 
there,  and  which  1  suppose  he  has  received  by  this  time. 

We  are  all  perfectly  well,  including  mother,  and  God 
grant  that  you  also  continue  the  same.   .  .  . 

I  will  close  now.  I  am  perspiring  atrociously  in  this 
little  stateroom,  and  I  cannot  remember  the  things  I 
wanted  to  tell  you. 

Good-bye ;  regards  to  everybody,  and  remember  that 
I  really  love  you.  Ninay. 

Didn't  you  write  us  after  your  arrival  in  Boston,  be- 
sides your  letters  on  board  the  "  Ivernia  "  .?  We  only 
received  the  two  "  Ivernia "  letters  dated  17th  and 
22nd. 


[The  following  letter  marks  a  considerable  change  in 
the  condition  and  surroundings  of  the  family,  and  a 
corresponding  change  in  the  tone  and  character  of  the 
letters.     The  mother  and  sisters  are  again  in  the  natural 


lyo       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

and  pleasant  surroundings  of  home  and  native  town  ;  the 
brothers  are  on  their  way  from  captivity ;  and  the  long 
strain  and  suspense  are  at  an  end.  The  sigh  of  relief 
perpetuates  itself  even  in  the  translated,  printed  copy,  in 
which  there  is  happiness  and  hope  expressed  in  almost 
every  line.  "To-night,  we  expect  the  three."  There  is 
a  little  world  of  meaning  in  these  simple  words.  And 
there  is  time,  too,  to  think  of  other  things,  —  of  little 
Emilio,  a  child  of  the  revolution,  who  appears  to  have 
characteristics  in  common  with  childhood  the  world  over  : 
"  Much  fatter,  and  an  atrocious  chatterbox  "  !  That  is  a 
description  which  is  widely  applicable.] 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Balayan,  May  ii,  1902. 

Dearest  Clemen  :  At  last  we  find  ourselves  in  this 
dear  town,  for  we  arrived  at  dawn  on  the  8th,  without 
any  accident  to  deplore,  thank  God,  and  we  met  Andrea 
and  Emiling  [one  of  Mariano's  children,  Jose  Emilio  — 
named  after  Rizal  and  Aguinaldo  during  the  insurrection 
against  Spain],  who  are  enjoying  perfect  health. 

As  you  will  see  by  the  telegram  which  I  inclose,  it  was 
only  yesterday  that  our  brothers  were  liberated,  and  this 
morning  we  sent  the  launch  to  meet  them  in  Taal,  where 
they  have  arrived  on  their  way  here.  I  do  not  understand 
yet  why  the  authorities  waited  so  long  before  definitely 
giving  them  their  liberty,  for,  whereas  the  other  pris- 
oners were  immediately  liberated  on  the  surrender  of 
Malvar,  our  brothers  were  given  only  provisional  liberty 
from  that  time  to  the  present  —  more  than  a  month. 
This  is  attributed  to  the  fact  that  Bell  is  not  in  Batangas, 
and  that  he  gave  orders  that  our  brothers  should  wait 
until  he  returned  from  Manila,  where  he  now  is,  on 
account  of  the  court-martial  of  General  Smith.  Felix 
Unzon,  who  has  been  here  fifteen  days,  tells  me  the 
same.  He  says  also  that  when  they  were  first  taken 
prisoners  they  were  not  well  treated,  but  that  since  Feb- 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       171 

ruary  they  had  been  better  looked  after,  especially  our 
brothers. 

I  must  tell  you  about  an  officer  whose  name  is  Samuel 
H.  Fisher,  second  lieutenant  of  the  Twenty-eighth  In- 
fantry, who,  according  to  Felix,  was  the  one  most  consid- 
erate to  our  brothers.  Several  times  when  he  visited 
Manila  while  we  were  there  he  came  to  see  us  on  behalf 
of  our  brothers,  and  gave  us  news  of  their  health.  I 
believe    that    his    kindness   was   due    to    his    friendship 

for ,  who  strongly  recommended  our  brothers  to 

him. 

We  find  that  Emiling  has  progressed  in  everything 
more  than  you  can  imagine,  for,  besides  having  grown 
and  being  much  fatter,  he  is  an  atrocious  chatterbox,  and 
carries  on  conversations  so  serious  as  to  be  almost  unsuit- 
able to  his  age.  You  would  devour  him  with  kisses  if 
you  could  see  him  just  now,  he  is  so  cunning;  much 
more  so  than  he  used  to  be. 

It  is  more  than  a  week  since  the  Sixth  Cavalry  left  here 
for  Los  Banos,  and  the  First  is  here  now,  commanded  by 
the  well-known  Captain  Brown,  who  was  in  Lipa.  The 
officer  whom  we  have  here  at  present,  until  Captain 
Brown  arrives,  came  to  visit  us  on  Friday  evening,  and, 
believe  me,  we  received  him  very  coldly,  for  I  cannot 
help  the  resentment  which  only  time  will  efface  from 
our  hearts. 

I  will  close,  for  visitors  are  coming ;  to-morrow,  I  will 
write  you  further,  if  I  have  time.  To-night,  we  expect 
the  three. 

Keep  well,  and  I  hope  that  Miss  Cornelia  *  and  her 
brother  also  are  well. 

Good-bye,  with  a  warm  embrace  from 

NiNAV. 


*  Miss  Cornelia  Warren,  whose  kindness  to  Miss  Lopez  will  do  more 
for  the  real  peace  of  the  Philippines  than  "  Cajsar's  legions,"  and  more 
to  heal  the  wound  than  the  combined  wisdom  of  statesmen. 


172       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

[Copy  of  the  telegram  :] 

Batangas  [City],  P.  I.,  May  lo,  1902. 
Miss  Juliana  Lopez,  Balayan,  P.  I. 

We  are  liberated  to-day ;  so  do  not  come  to  this  town. 

Lorenzo. 


[The  two  following  letters  are  of  special  interest.  The 
first,  written  by  Manuel,  gives  an  account  of  the  treat- 
ment of  the  three  brothers  during  their  imprisonment ; 
the  second,  from  Mariano,  tells  what  he  and  others 
endeavored  to  do  for  their  release.  Both  letters  are  full 
of  information  and  throw  much  light  on  the  whole  situa- 
tion. They  also  contain  some  rather  curious  items.  For 
example,  Manuel  tells  how  the  members  of  the  band  of 
Tiaong  were  arrested  and  deported  to  Malagi  in  order 
that  the  soldiers  might  have  music  on  the  island !  Who 
shall  say  that  the  American  soldier  does  not  know  how  to 
do  things  ?  And  yet,  what  is  to  be  said  of  the  item  in 
Mariano's  letter  which  tells  how  "  our  superintendent  is 
now  the  local  presidente,  appointed  by  the  Americans." 
This  superintendent,  or  encargado,  of  the  Lopez  cattle- 
ranch  at  Abra  de  Hog,  Mindoro,  was  imprisoned  by  Major 
Pitcher,  without  known  cause  or  justification,  and  in  spite 
of  the  urgent  representations  of  Captain  Shaw,  the  local 
commander.  He  is  now  presidente  of  Abra  de  Hog  ! 
Such  acts  as  these,  which  have  the  appearance  of  being 
dictated  solely  by  caprice,  are  not  calculated  to  inspire 
the  Filipinos  with  confidence  in  their  rulers.] 


[From  Manuel  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  May  20,  1902. 
My  dear  Sister  :  I  suppose  all  of  you  in  America 
already  know  the  details  of  our  arrest,  which  was  due 
solely  to  our  being  brothers  of  Sixto  Lopez ! 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       173 

In  reference  to  the  way  in  which  we  were  treated 
during  our  imprisonment  of  five  months  I  shall  speak 
very  briefly. 

In  Batangas  we  did  not  expect  that  an  officer  of  the 
Twenty-first  Regiment  of  Infantry,  called  Conlay,  first 
lieutenant  and  provost  of  the  prison,  would  have  obliged 
me  to  take  off  my  hat  to  him,  or  that  he  would  call  me  "  a 
great  insurrecto  "  !  In  view  of  the  fact  that  we  were  three 
brothers,  it  seemed  to  me  better  not  to  take  this  seri- 
ously, for  I  considered  that  this  affront  to  me  was  simply 
the  act  of  an  official  who  is  wholly  without  breeding.  I 
believe  this  has  happened  not  only  to  me  but  to  many 
others,  and  that  almost  all  of  Bell's  officers  have  behaved 
in  this  way.  As  for  us,  we  are  fortunate  that  nothing 
worse  happened  to  us  during  the  twenty  days  of  Decem- 
ber that  we  were  in  Batangas,  —  such  as  happened  to 
various  friends  of  ours.  For  instance,  Don  Vicente 
Agregado  (the  lawyer)  and  Don  Antonio  Babasa  were, 
out  of  spite,  forced  to  carry  stones  and  sand  for  three 
days,  and  were  compelled  to  work  in  the  prison  besides. 
Perhaps  they  did  not  treat  us  as  they  did  the  rest,  be- 
cause it  may  have  occurred  to  them  that  knowledge  of 
these  abuses  might  reach  America. 

What  I  regretted  the  most,  during  the  twenty  days 
that  we  were  in  Batangas,  was  that  they  did  not  take 
any  declaration  from  us,  and  that  we  did  not  even  know 
the  reason  of  our  arrest.  Moreover,  they  did  not  even 
allow  us  to  have  food  brought  in  to  us  three  brothers, 
and  the  first  few  days  we  were  obliged  to  eat  wretched 
food ;  but  afterward,  thanks  to  the  outside  relatives  of 
our  good  friends,  the  Batangas  prisoners,  we  were  able 
to  eke  out  our  own  fare  from  their  provisions,  and  did  not 
therefore  become  ill. 

From  Batangas  they  took  us  to  [the  Bay  of  Manila, 
en  route  to]  the  island  of  Malagi,  Laguna  de  Bay,  as 
exiles,  and  you  cannot  imagine  the  kind  of  treatment 
we  were  all  subjected  to.  They  put  us  in  the  bottom  of 
the  hold  of  the  steamer  "  Legaspi,"  and  I  doubt  if  they 


174       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

would  have  treated  animals  so  inhumanly.  We  were 
kept  there  four  days,  and  if  we  had  been  thus  kept  much 
longer  half  of  the  hundred  men  would  have  died ;  as  it 
was,  many  of  them  became  ill.  Afterward  we  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  steamer  "  Liscum,"  where  we  were  some- 
what better  off  as  regards  space  during  the  following 
fourteen  days.  There  also  we  were  in  the  hold,  but 
with  the  advantage  that  this  boat  had  port-holes  through 
which  the  air  entered.  They  gave  us  the  best  place, 
which  was  the  place  provided  for  the  transportation  of 
horses ! 

The  14th  of  January,  two  days  after  Mariquita's  ar- 
rival from  Hong-Kong,  they  took  us  off  in  small  boats 
towed  by  a  little  tug,  and  transported  us  to  Malagi,  an 
island  that  had  never  been  inhabited,  where  they  kept  us 
for  three  months  and  six  days.  The  other  prisoners  were 
put  to  forced  labor,  "and  were  badly  fed,  and  we  all  slept 
on  the  ground  at  night,  in  field-tents,  without  any  other 
protection.  Thanks  to  the  palm  mats  which  we  brought 
from  Batangas,  and  the  cot-beds  which  the  family  after- 
ward sent  us  from  Manila,  we  did  not  fare  so  badly  as 
the  others.  In  one  tent  the  unsentenced  prisoners  slept 
to  the  number  of  more  than  fifteen  persons,  and  those 
who  had  received  sentences,  including  the  greater  part 
of  our  companions,  were  forced  to  sleep  as  many  as 
twenty  in  a  tent. 

You  will  be  much  astonished  to  hear  that  there  were 
(political)  prisoners  wJio  were  also  sentenced ;  for  almost 
all  of  them  were  "  sentenced  "  at  the  pleasure  of  any  offi- 
cer. I  say  ^^  any  officej',''  because,  without  making  an 
investigation,  without  calling  a  court-martial,  the  mere 
denunciation  by  some  wretch  or  other  was  sufficient  upon 
which  to  have  them  deported  with  a  sentence  of  at  least 
two  years.  And  these  are  the  men  that  are  made  to  work 
at  forced  labor  like  criminals  !  The  greater  part  of  these 
sentenced  men  are  those  who  have  been  either  unable 
or  unwilling  to  suborn  a  man  called  Arthur,  an  Eng- 
lish subject,  who  formerly  belonged  to  the  files  of  Gen- 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       175 

eral  Trias's  column.  This  Arthur  is  interpreter,  and  at 
the  same  time  one  of  the  secret  pohce  of  the  provost 
of  Batangas ;  and  as  he  was  the  only  trusted  person  he 
could  bargain  with  the  prisoners,  many  of  whom  -were 
low  enough  not  to  know  hi)w  to  maintain  their  owh 
dignity. 

As  for  us  three  brothers,  it  was  only  for  one  week 
that  they  made  us  follow  the  laborers,  acting  as  over- 
seers. Afterward,  General  Bell  visited  the  island,  and 
from  that  time  they  did  not  force  us  to  work,  and  we 
were  given  liberty  to  go  about  the  island. 

Company  II  of  the  Twenty-eighth  Infantry,  who  were 
our  custodians,  especially  the  officers,  behaved  themselves 
divinely  toward  the  three  of  us.  They  were  very  gen- 
tlemanly in  their  bearing,  gave  us  whatever  we  asked  for, 
and  treated  us  with  every  consideration. 

I  believe  that  if  they  have  lacked  somewhat  in  their 
treatment  of  the  other  prisoners,  it  was  because  of  orders 
from  Batangas,  from  the  commanders.  For  example,  in 
the  matter  of  food :  at  first  it  was  given  to  the  prisoners 
with  much  scarcity.  We  three  did  not  lack,  because  we 
received  from  Manila  several  boxes  of  provisions  sent  by 
the  family,  and  it  is  due  to  this  that  we  were  not  desper- 
ately hungry,  for  what  was  given  to  us  did  not  suit  our 
stomachs. 

In  Malagi  there  was  one  officer,  called  Kriger,  a  first 
lieutenant,  who  was  very  bad.  He  made  the  prisoners 
work  at  least  eight  hours  a  day,  and  also  on  Sundays. 
He  was  very  harsh,  not  only  with  the  prisoners  but  also 
with  the  soldiers,  and  was  the  terror  of  Malagi. 

On  the  twenty-first  of  April  they  took  us  away  from 
the  island  and  carried  us  to  Batangas,  with  four  others; 
and  on  the  tenth  of  this  month  General  Bell  gave  us 
liberty,  owing  to  the  surrender  of  Malvar.  Cipriano 
they  took  away  as  early  as  February,  in  order  to  make 
an  investigation  about  the  guns  which  he  was  accused  of 
not  having  presented  when  he  surrendered.  The  first 
few  days,  they  made  him  work  in  the  public  square  at 


176       STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

forced  labor,  by  order  of  the  provost,  who  is  called  D.  N. 
Boughton,  and  who  is  a  captain  of  the  Third  Cavalry  ; 
but  after  that  they  took  Cipriano  out  of  the  prison 
and  made  him  a  clerk  in  the  office.  From  that  time  he 
ceased  to  sleep  in  the  prison,  and  was  allowed  to  sleep  in 
a  private  house. 

In  Malagi  the  number  of  prisoners  went  above  760 
men,  and  the  greater  number  did  not  even  know  the  rea- 
son why  they  had  been  imprisoned.  In  one  way  this  was 
a  good  thing,  because,  of  those  who  were  questioned  by 
officials  and  commanders  of  detachments,  many  were 
tortured  in  the  manner  of  Spanish  days.  Many  who 
had  been  tortured  arrived  at  Malagi  so  sick  that  they 
could  hardly  walk.  This  was  so  with  the  man  who  was 
presidente  of  the  town  of  St.  Tomas,  whose  name  I 
have  forgotten  at  this  moment. 

Women  and  children  were  imprisoned  in  the  provinces 
of  Batangas  and  Tayabas  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
churches  were  utilized  as  prisons  for  the  women.  They 
also  deported  to  Malagi  many  boys  who  were  members 
of  the  band  of  the  town  of  Tiaong,  and  this  solely  be- 
cause they  desired  to  have  music  on  the  island ! 

We  have  had  General  Lukban  as  a  companion  in 
Malagi ;  he  was  captured  with  his  two  adjutants.  I 
believe  that  he  is  one  of  the  generals  who  have  con- 
ducted themselves  creditably  in  this  campaign ;  and  it  is 
said  that  if  they  call  him  to  America  he  will  be  very 
much  pleased,  because  he  will  then  be  able  to  declare 
certain  things  which  ought  to  be  known  for  the  good  of 
the  country.  In  view  of  this,  when  they  asked  him  any- 
thing, he  remained  silent,  saying  that  it  was  useless  to 
reply,  for  there  was  no  justice  here. 

When  they  gave  us  our  liberty  they  were  going  to 
pass  the  steamer  "Purisima"  over  to  me,  but  I  would 
not  receive  it,  objecting  that  it  was  badly  damaged. 
The  quartermaster's  department  has  now  undertaken  to 
repair  it,  and  will  turn  it  over  to  me  later  when  the 
repairs  are  finished. 


STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       177 

You  will  remember  that  since  the  1 2th  of  December 
the  boat  has  been  in  their  possession,  and  is  so  up  to  the 
present  time.  If  you  wish  to  enter  a  claim  for  damage 
and  loss,  it  would  be  better  to  do  it  in  America,  because 
nothing  can  be  done  here. 

Our  mother  continues  in  good  health,  in  spite  of 
having  suffered  much  on  account  of  our  imprisonment. 
Give  a  greeting  and  remembrances  from  me  to  Messrs. 
Fiske  and  Thomas  ;  I  am  very  sorry  not  to  have  been 
able  to  say  good-bye  to  them. 

Your  brother  who  loves  you,  Manuel  Lopez. 


[From  Mariano  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  May  22,  1902. 
Dear  Clemencia  :  Thanks  to  your  two  letters,  dated 
the  17th  and  23d  of  last  March,  the  high  opinion  that  I 
have  always  held  of  the  free  and  great  Republic  of  North 
America,  and  of  its  worthy  citizens  devoted  to  the  culti- 
vation of  the  fruits  of  liberty,  has  been  re-born  in  me. 
As  you  well  know,  it  was  due  to  this  opinion  that  I  have 
never  been  in  favor  of  the  war  of  our  country  against 
America,  that  I  have  worked  for  peace,  and  have  induced 
the  whole  family  to  do  the  same,  for  I  was  firmly  con- 
vinced that  the  Americans  would  be  just  to  us  in  all 
respects.  But  I  confess  to  you  frankly  that  since  our 
brothers  have  been  imprisoned,  deported  without  any 
process  of  law,  and  our  property  has  been  confiscated  as 
if  we  were  great  enemies  of  the  American  Government 
in  the  Philippines,  this  high  opinion  has  been  grad- 
ually dying,  owing  to  the  fact  that,  with  the  exception  of 
the  three  men,  Curry,  Taggart,  and  Pendleton,  all  those  to 
whom.  I  have  appealed,  demanding  justice  on  account  of 
the  deportation  of  our  brothers,  have  deceived  me,  —  as 
you  will  see  by  my  experiences  which  I  am  going  to 
recount  to  you. 


lyS       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

In  the  first  place,  I  had  recourse  to  the  Federal  party, 
presenting  to  the  President,  Dr.  Jose  Albert,  the  notes 
and  vouchers  of  my  services  and  those  of  all  the  family 
in  the  establishment  of  peace,  and  telling  him  of  all  that 
had  occurred  in  Balayan,  —  thanks  to  the  infamous  in- 
trigues and  false  accusations  of  Manuel  Ramirez,  who 
was  sheltered  and  protected  by  Cheever,  Captain  of  the 
Sixth  Cavalry;  commanding  officer  in  the  town.  (This 
has  been  true  especially  since  he  was  defeated  in  the 
municipal  elections  of  the  29th  of  last  September.)  I 
gave  Dr.  Albert  these  papers,  so  that  he  might  confer 
with,  and  show  them  to,  the  Acting  Civil  Governor, 
General  Wright.  Seiior  Albert  afterward  gave  me  an 
account  of  this  interview,  in  which  General  Wright  said 
that,  on  account  of  Sixto,  and  on  account  of  the  stay  of 
Mr.  Warren  and  Mr.  Patterson  in  our  house,  I  have 
lost  the  good  opinion  which  the  authorities  had  held  of 
me,  and  that  he  did  not  wish  a  man  to  serve  two 
masters ! 

In  the  second  place,  accompanied  by  Captain  Curry, 
I  went  to  see  General  Wright.  As  he  was  not  able  to 
receive  us,  owing  to  his  being  very  busy,  we  went  to 
see  General  Chaffee.  We  were  not  able  to  speak  with 
him  either,  but,  instead,  spoke  with  Colonel  Sanger, 
Inspector  General  of  Arms,  who,  after  listening  to  us 
with  kindness,  answered  that  he  would  direct  us  to 
Colonel  Wagner,  Adjutant  General  of  the  Department 
of  the  North  ;  that  he  would  agree  to  whatever  that 
gentleman  should  decide,  and  would  recommend  my 
claim  to  General  Chaffee.  In  the  Department  of  the 
North  I  was  not  able  to  speak  to  Colonel  Wagner, 
because  he  delegated  to  receive  me  Captain  Bash,  Gen- 
eral Wheaton's  adjutant,  who  immediately  fired  the  fol- 
lowing question  at  me :  "  Why  are  you  not  a  prisoner  ? " 
My  only  answer  to  such  an  unexpected  sally  was  to 
shrug  my  shoulders  and  say,  "I  do  not  know."  In  the 
voice  of  the  Czar  of  Russia  he  proceeded  to  tell  me 
that  all  the  Filipinos  are  more  or  less  double-faced  toward 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       179 

the  Americans.  In  view  of  the  brutal  manner  in  which 
he  received  me,  and  in  order  not  to  make  our  situation 
any  worse,  I  confined  myself  to  giving  him  the  notes  of 
my  services,  and  those  of  the  family,  to  the  American 
Government  in  the  cause  of  peace,  together  with  the 
vouchers,  and  then  went  away.  At  the  end  of  two  weeks 
I  learned  that  these  notes  had  been  sent  to  General  Bell, 
for  I  v^as  so  notified  by  the  said  Department  of  the 
North  with  General  Bell's  answer,  the  original  of  which 
I  inclose  for  you.  This,  as  you  will  see,  limits  itself 
entirely  to  exalting  mc,  and  does  not  at  all  decide  the 
question  concerning  our  brothers,  nor  does  it  attempt 
any  investigation  as  to  whether  or  not  they  were  enemies 
of  America.  They  all  say  that  the  measure  was  a  gen- 
eral one  in  the  province  of  Batangas.  To  this  I  answer, 
Why  have  they  so  singled  us  out,  —  not  being  content 
with  merely  arresting  and  deporting  our  brothers,  but 
confiscating  our  property  and,  owing  to  Ramirez's  accu- 
sations, punishing  all  our  people  so  atrociously  that  not 
only  did  it  cost  poor  Isabelo  Capacia  his  life,  but  actually 
caused  many  of  them  to  deny  that  they  were  our  people, 
in  order  to  escape  persecution  ? 

Besides  this,  Ramirez,  together  with  V.  Ramos  and 
Hilar  ion  Ramirez,  made  themselves  masters  of  all 
Balayan,  Tuy,  Lian,  Calatagan,  and  Nasugbu,  in  this 
manner  :  They  were  the  only  men  allowed  to  trade 
between  these  towns,  obtaining  also  a  monopoly  in 
gambling,  and  having  a  gambling  outfit  and  cockpit  in 
the  house  and  grounds  of  Ramos.  So  true  is  all  this 
that  Ramirez  &  Co.  forced  the  people  to  sign  the  petition 
or  paper  which  was  presented  by  the  people  of  Balayan 
praying  the  Military  Government  to  retain  Cheevcr  and 
his  company.  This  petition  was  signed,  in  the  presence 
of  Cheever,  in  the  aforesaid  cockpit,  and  many  of  the 
people  could  not  refuse  to  sign  because  of  the  sure 
vengeance  that  would  follow.* 


*  This  paragraph  has  a   bearing  on   the  following   telegraphic    tlis- 


i8o       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

Since  the  1 3th  of  March  Cipriano  has  had  provisional 
Hberty,  being  employed  as  translator  and  interpreter  into 
Spanish.  Lorenzo  and  Manuel  were  freed  only  on  the 
loth  of  this  month.  Manuel  is  now  in  Manila,  and  he 
tells  me  that  when  they  were  freed  on  that  date  General 
Bell  wished  to  deliver  to  him  the  steamer  and  our  papers ; 
but  he  refused  to  receive  either,  because  he  declares  that, 
as  regards  the  steamer,  it  was  unserviceable,  and  as  to  the 
papers,  when  they  were  seized  by  the  Government,  they 
were  in  a  chest  with  a  lock,  but  at  the  time  of  their 
proffered  delivery  the  chest  was  unhinged  and  the  papers 
mixed  up  and  thrown  into  a  corner  of  the  office.  General 
Bell,  in  regard  to  the  first,  ordered  an  inspection,  sending 
the  steamer  to  Manila  to  be  repaired ;  and  as  to  the 
papers,  when  he  knew  what  had  happened,  he  was  furious 


patches,  which,  in  1902,  were  the  subject  of  a  controversy  between  the 
Springfield  Republican  and  the  New  York  Tribune :  — 

United  States  Signal  Coips,  Iloilo,  February  11. 
Commanding  Officer,  Pototan  :  — 

Following  telegram  has  been  rec'eived  and  should  be  circulated  among 
all  officers  :  — 

Manila,  February  10. 
Commanding  General,  Fifth  Separate  Brigade,  Iloilo:  — 

Following  cablegram  received  from  Washington :  To  refute  state- 
ments of  misconduct  of  troops  toward  natives  in  Philippine  Islands, 
Secretary  of  War  Root  directs  petition  of  retention  of  commanders  of 
various  organizations  and  any  information  within  the  knowledge  of  any 
officer  on  these  islands  will  be  wired  here.  Any  applications  that  have 
not  been  forwarded  will  be  forwarded  at  once. 

By  order  of  Colonel  Snyder :  [Signed]  Noble, 

A  djuta  Jit-  GeneraVs  Office. 

The  question  in  dispute  was  as  to  whether  Secretary  Root  had  re- 
quested that  petitions  be  secured,  or  had  merely  directed  that  petitions 
already  in  the  possession  of  certain  officers  in  the  Philippines  should 
be  sent  to  Washington. 

From  the  above  paragraph  in  Mariano's  letter  it  would  appear  that, 
whether  or  not  the  request  came  from  Washington,  the  petitions — or 
at  least  one  of  them  —  were  obtained  in  a  manner  which  destroys  their 
value  as  a  refutation  of  "statements  of  misconduct  of  troops  toward 
natives  in  Philippine  Islands." 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       i8i 

and  hurled  curses  at  his  subordinates.  According  to 
Manuel,  General  Bell  said  he  was  going  to  Balayan  and 
the  western  towns.  I  suppose  he  will  take  our  papers 
there,  and  will  there  deliver  them  to  our  brothers  ;  and  I 
suppose  also  that,  since  the  latter  have  already  been 
advised  by  Manuel  of  his  attitude,  they  will  receive  them 
only  after  examining  them  one  by  one,  so  that  they  may 
know  which  are  lacking,  and  protest  in  the  deed  of 
transfer. 

The  steamer  is  now  in  Manila,  and  has  been  examined 
by  the  Government  engineer,  by  whom  it  will  be  repaired. 
It  will  very  soon  be  put  into  the  dock,  but,  according  to 
Manuel,  on  account  of  the  great  amount  of  damage  to 
the  engines  and  hull,  the  repairing  may  take  a  month. 

Here,  the  Filipinos,  and  some  who  are  not  Filipinos, 
who  have  made  claims  against  the  Government  on  account 
of  damages  and  injury,  have  obtained  nothing  up  to  the 
present  time.  For  this  reason  I  am  of  the  opinion  that 
you  should  make  a  claim  in  America.  You  already  know 
that  Lualhati  rented  the  steamer  from  us  at  the  rate  of 
$150  (Mex.),  per  day,  exclusive  of  expenses,  and  the 
Government  itself  has  offered  Manuel  this  price  in  order 
to  continue  using  it. 

Our  house  and  storehouses  in  Balayan  have  been  occu- 
pied by  the  troops,  and  in  Abra  de  Hog  (Mindoro)  our 
house  on  the  ranch  was  burned,  and  some  of  our  best 
cattle  shot,  as  a  result  of  a  combat  there.  This,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  our  superintendent,  with  all  our  people, 
submitted  to  the  American  Government,  and  that  it  was 
one  of  our  herdsmen  who  gave  warning  of  the  presence 
of  the  insurrectionary  force  at  that  place  to  the  com- 
manding offtcer  in  Abra  de  Hog ;  where  also  our  super- 
intendent is  now  the  local  presidente,  appointed  by  the 
Americans. 

I  write  you  this  letter  on  the  steamer,  for  only  at  the 
last  moment  I  knew  that  the  bearer  was  going  to  Paris. 
He  is  a  young  man  approved  by  the  Lyceum,  Miguel 
Velarde. 


i82       STORY   OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

Do  me  the  favor  to  make  my  excuses  to  Mr.  Warren 
for  not  yet  having  written  to  him.  Place  me  at  the  feet 
of  his  wife,  and  give  my  respects  to  all  his  distinguished 
family  and  relatives,  and  to  all  those  good  people  who 
have  entertained  and  cared  for  you. 

Your  affectionate  brother,  Mariano  Lopez. 


[In  the  following  letter  Juliana  continues  the  story, 
and  tells  how,  when  Lorenzo  and  Manuel  were  being 
liberated,  General  Bell  asked  them  "if  they  had  any 
complaint  to  make  of  their  treatment  by  the  officers  of 
the  detachment  171  Ma/agi.''  There  may  have  been  a 
desire  to  avoid  troublesome  disclosures  in  thus  confining 
the  inquiry  solely  to  Malagi ;  or  it  may  have  been  that 
General  Bell  knew  and  disapproved  of  the  treatment  of 
the  brothers  during  the  earlier  period,  and  simply  wished 
to  know  if  they  had  any  complaint  as  to  the  later  treat- 
ment. If  the  inquiry  had  extended  to  Batangas  prison, 
and  to  the  journey  en  route  to  Manila  and  Malagi,  the 
brothers'  reply,  as  shown  by  Manuel's  letter,  might  have 
been  different.] 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Balayan,  p.  I.,  May  22d,  1902. 

Dearest  Clemen  :  Heaven  grant  that  you  continue 
well,  as  we  all  do  here. 

Our  brothers  are  now  free ;  the  "  Purisima  "  brought 
them  here  a  week  ago.  We  found  them  in  good  health, 
including  Lorenzo.  The  latter,  according  to  his  oivn 
account,  has  hardly  suffered  at  all  in  the  prison,  but  on 
the  contrary  has  learned  a  great  deal  and  has  made  many 
good  friends  in  the  provinces  of  Tayabas  and  La  Laguna, 
so  that  now  he  considers  himself  influential  not  only 
in   Batangas   but   in  the  former  provinces  also.     They 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       183 

tell  us  many  things  about  that  little  island,  and  about 
the  life  they  led  there.  After  all,  they  were  not  so 
badly  off,  for  Lorenzo  and  Manuel  enjoyed  certain  privi- 
leges which  were  not  given  to  the  others,  and  this  was 
due  to  the  letter  of  Sixto  to  General  Chaffee. 

When  they  arrived  at  Batangas  they  were  not  given 
their  liberty  at  once,  as  were  others,  because  Bell  was 
then  in  Manila  ;  and  it  was  he  who,  later,  took  their 
declaration,  but  in  a  very  friendly  tone  which  cannot  be 
compared  with  that  which  he  almost  always  uses.  He 
also  asked  them  if  they  had  any  complaint  to  make  of 
their  treatment  by  the  officers  of  the  detachment  in 
Malagi,  and  they  replied,  "No,"  for  indeed  they  had  not. 
The  man  to  whom  we  are  especially  indebted  is  Lieu- 
tenant Fisher,  because  of  his  humane  feelings  toward 
the  poor  prisoners,  and  to  him  our  brothers  also  owe 
many  favors. 

I  told  you  in  my  previous  letter  that  Cipriano  was 
in  Abra  de  Hog  before  the  ports  were  opened,  through  a 
favor  which  Bell,  without  solicitation,  chose  to  confer 
upon  him,  in  order  that  he  might  take  food  to  our  poor 
people,  for  the  Americans  had  burned  all  their  rice,  and, 
besides,  had  burned  our  house  in  Baluguhan  [Abra  de 
Hog].  Imagine  how  pleased  Cipriano  must  have  been 
with  this  offer,  which  he  at  once  accepted,  being  sent  in 
a  Government  launch.  This  happened  on  the  1 2th  of 
April,  so  that  we  attribute  it  to  your  efforts.  Cipriano 
tells  me  that  it  was  only  last  March  that  the  house  was 
burned,  together  with  500  "  cabanes  "  of  rice.  When 
Captain  Shaw  was  there  he  never  thought  of  doing  such 
a  thing ;  it  was  another  officer  who  was  in  command,  and 
who  had  it  burned  immediately  because  it  was  outside  the 
zone.  Just  imagine  !  —  D.  Gabino  de  Jesus  [the  family's 
incargado]  is  presidente  of  Abra  de  Hog  !  —  appointed  by 
Captain  Shaw.  They  ought  not  to  have  burned  our  house 
in  Baluguhan,  for  the  American  troops  had  frequently 
made  use  of  it.  They  stayed  in  that  house  when  night 
overtook  them  and  they  could  go  no  farther.     Captain 


i84      STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ   FAMILY 

Shaw  knew  all  this ;  but,  as  I  told  you,  he  was  relieved 
by  another  officer,  who  burned  it.  Our  cattle  are  well 
looked  after,  and  none  have  been  lost.  On  Sunday 
night  Cipriano  went  there  again  to  bring  away  some 
of  them. 

Up  to  the  present  time,  neither  the  steamer  nor  the 
documents  have  been  returned.  Lorenzo  tells  me  that 
the  repairs  on  the  steamer  will  cost  $9000,  so  that 
even  if  they  offer  to  return  it  he  will  not  accept  it. 
Moreover,  they  make  no  mention  of  payment  for  the 
use  of  it.  We  believe  it  will  be  better  to  wait  until  they 
offer  it,  rather  than  to  demand  its  return.  There  are 
many  other  things  that  I  should  like  to  say  to  you,  but 
I  am  very,  very  tired. 

The  officer  who  is  now  in  command  here,  Mr.  Charles 
J.  Thomas,  visits  us  quite  often,  and  seems  well  bred. 
The  inspector  of  the  constabulary  who  has  been  ap- 
pointed here  in  Balayan  is  none  other  than  Mr.  Pendle- 
ton !  — he  has  just  arrived. 

The  town  is  very  quiet,  and  the  people  who  used  to 
say  that  the  imprisonment  of  our  brothers  was  to  be 
more  than  temporary  are  not  opening  their  lips  now ; 
they  are  very  much  ashamed  of  some  rude  things  they 
said  to  us. 

I  close  this  letter,  without  forgetting  my  affectionate 
regards  to  Miss  Warren  and  her  brother.  Do  not  for- 
get to  give  them  to  Sixto  and  also  to  your  inseparable 
companion. 

Good-bye,  with  embraces  from  all.  Ninay. 


[The  following  letter  is  from  Senor  Alberto  Barretto, 
one  of  the  leading  lawyers  in  Manila  and  the  legal 
adviser  of  the  Lopez  family.  Prior  to  the  outbreak  of 
hostilities  with  the  Filipinos  he  held  the  office  of  Vice- 
President  of  the  Assembly  at  Tarlac,  under  Aguinaldo's 


STORY   OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       185 

Government.  Since  then,  for  a  time,  he  occupied  a 
neutral  position,  but  has  recently  accepted  some  such 
office  as  register  of  deeds  under  the  Civil  Government. 
His  letter  contains  certain  items  of  interest  not  found 
elsewhere  in  this  correspondence,  hence  its  inclusion  in 
these  pages  ;  but  it  is  hoped  that  Senor  Barretto  will  not 
be  made  to  suffer  on  account  of  this  evidence  of  his  pro- 
fessional relations  with  the  Lopez  family.] 


[From  Senor  Alberto  Barretto  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  June  4,  1902. 
Sefiorita  Clemencia  Lopez, 

Boston,  United  States. 

Friend  Clemencia  :  Through  your  letters  to  your 
brothers  and  sisters,  as  well  as  by  the  papers,  I  have 
learned  of  the  welcome  given  you  in  that  liberal  and 
democratic  America.  I  congratulate  you  cordially  on 
that  account,  and  especially  on  the  honor  of  which  you 
have  been  the  object  in  being  called  to  testify  before  the 
Senate  Committee  on  Philippine  affairs ;  a  favor  which 
has  only  been  conferred  upon  the  celebrated  Buencamino, 
who  must,  at  this  time,  be  in  America. 

By  letters  from  here  you  will  already  have  learned 
that  Cipriano,  Lorenzo,  and  Manuel  are  free,  and  that 
in  a  short  time  the  steamer  "Purisima"  will  be  trans- 
ferred to  them,  repaired  and  completely  cleaned,  but 
without  indemnification  for  use  since  the  seizure,  which 
occurred  at  the  same  time  as  the  imprisonment  of  your 
brothers.  Cipriano,  Lorenzo,  and  Manuel  have  been  set 
at  liberty  under  an  oath  of  allegiance,  on  which,  at  least 
in  Manuel's,  could  be  read  on  the  upper  margin  of  the 
paper,  ''  Brother  oi  Sixto  Lopez,  member  of  the  Hong- 
Kong  Junta."  Apparently  this  has  been  the  one  and 
only  cause  of  the  detention  which  they  have  suffered. 

You  ought  to  consult  there  with  some  lawyer  con- 
cerning the  form  in  which  to  petition  the  army  authori- 
ties for  the  payment  of  damages  caused  by  the  taking 


i86       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

of  the  boat,  and  for  the  imprisonment ;  for,  as  I  under- 
stand it,  the  courts  here  have  no  jurisdiction  and  cannot 
recognize  claims  of  this  sort.  .  .  . 

Do  me  the  favor  to  ask  your  brother  to  pardon  me 
that  I  have  not  yet  answered  him,  for  reasons  of  which, 
doubtless,  he  is  not  ignorant. 

I  pray  you  to  present  my  respects  to  Mr.  Warren, 
whom  I  do  not  forget,  and  also  to  your  brother  Sixto. 
With  affectionate  regards  from  Bonifacia,  be  assured 
that  you  may  dispose  unconditionally  of  your  friend  who 
esteems  you,  and  who  desires  your  health  and  happiness. 

Alberto  Barretto. 


[Perhaps  the  most  beautiful  and  most  interesting  of  all 
Juliana's  letters  are  the  two  which  follow.  They  breathe 
a  spirit  alternately  of  forgiveness  and  resentment  ;  they 
suggest  many  thoughts  and  lessons  from  which  those  in 
authority  might  profit ;  they  furnish  to  the  commentator 
temptations  in  almost  every  line.  But  —  that  thread 
on  which  jewels  are  strung  must  not  obtrude  itself 
too  frequently  on  mind  and  eye  !  Two  references 
in  the  second  letter  cannot,  however,  be  passed  over  in 
silence. 

Juliana  herself  recognizes  the  change  that  has  come 
over  her,  even  though  some  in  her  own  household  still 
regard  her  as  a  child:  "To  our  brothers  only  am  I 
still  a  child,  for  they  continue  to  treat  me  as  such ;  but 
outside  of  the  house  they  say  that  I  have  changed  much, 
and  they  have  excellent  reason  for  saying  that  misfort- 
unes transform  one." 

The  second  reference  has  about  it  the  fragrance  of 
the  flowers  of  which  it  tells.  It  will  appeal  to  those 
who,  amid  the  heat  of  contention  as  to  the  rights  or 
the  wrongs  of  the  friars,  have  harbored  an  unjust  suspi- 
cion of  the  religious  sincerity  of  the  Filipinos  :  "  Every 
afternoon  we  go  out  into  the  garden  to  see  the  flowers, 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       187 

for  it  is  a  pleasure  to  sec  how  many  there  are.  If  you 
saw  those  that  you  planted,  tears  of  joy  would  come  to 
your  eyes  to  see  how  flourishing  they  are ;  and,  as  you 
can  imagine,  the  expression  that  comes  oftenest  to  our 
tongue  is,  *  If  Clemen  could  see  this,  how  pleased  she 
would  be  ! '  Indeed,  all  the  roses  are  flourishing.  The 
last  day  of  May,  when  it  was  our  turn  to  offer  flowers 
to  the  Virgin,  we  did  not  have  to  send  to  other  towns 
for  them  as  in  former  years,  for  we  had  enough,  and 
there  were  some  magnificent  branches  among  those 
which  we  selected  and  used." 

Are   these   people    irreligious .''      Does    all    the  fault 
implied  in  the  friar  question  rest  with  the  Filipinos .-'] 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Balayan,  p.  I.,  June  6,  1902. 

Dearest  Clemen  :  I  take  this  opportunity,  when  the 
steamer  is  leaving  for  Manila,  to  tell  you  that  we  received 
your  letters  dated  the  i  ith  and  23d  of  April,  with  the 
pictures  and  letters  inclosed  for  Mr.  Curry  and  Mr. 
Pendleton,  which  I  shall  send  to  them  at  once. 

Pardon  me  for  telling  you  how  happy  we  are  when  we 
receive  letters  from  those  of  our  family  who  are  abroad, 
especially  from  you ;  and  mother  weeps  and  shows  very 
much  emotion  when  we  translate  your  letters  to  her. 
You  cannot  imagine  how  we  feci,  for  we  cannot  yet 
realize  that  you  are  so  far  from  us  (in  that  country  where 
you  used  to  dream  of  going),  and  surrounded  by  such 
good  people.  It  seems  as  if  I  could  still  hear  you  say- 
ing, what  you  said  so  often  to  the  officers  here :  that  the 
day  when  they  did  anything  to  our  prejudice,  and  listened 
to  the  denunciations  of  our  enemies,  you  would  not  beg 
for  justice  in  the  Philippines,  but  would  go  in  person  and 
talk  to  the  President  himself.  Do  you  rememljer  ?  And 
you  have  done  it.  I  think  Captain  Cole  will  often  think 
of  that. 

A  few  days  ago  Lieutenant  Jones  and  Mr.  Pendleton, 


i88       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

inspector  of  the  constabulary,  came  here,  according  to 
their  account,  in  order  to  visit  us.  They  have  both  been 
appointed  to  Batangas.  .  .  .  Lieutenant  Jones  told  me 
that  he  had  received  your  letter  directed  to  Philadelphia, 
and  that  he  v^ras  very  sorry  that  he  had  not  received  it 
while  he  w^as  still  there,  for  you  must  know  that  since 
March  he  has  been  in  Batangas  [City].  He  said  also 
that  Bell  had  read  your  letter,  which,  according  to  Jones, 
shows  how  indignant  you  are  with  the  military,  and  that 
Bell  said  he  was  sorry  you  had  such  an  idea  of  them. 
Moreover,  this  General  Bell,  of  whom  three  provinces 
had  such  a  horror,  has  suddenly  assumed  very  gracious 
manners  and  is  quite  affable  toward  the  Lopez  family. 
I  have  good  reason  to  say  so,  for  the  pass  which  he  gave 
Cipriano  for  Abra  de  Hog  and  for  the  whole  island  of 
Mindoro  absolutely  prohibits  all  the  chiefs  of  detachments 
from  interfering  with  Cipriano  and  our  interests  there, 
and  orders  that  they  should  put  no  obstacles  in  the  way 
of  his  business  transactions,  unless  his  own  actions 
should  give  them  good  cause  ;  and  that  even  then  no  one 
must  arrest  him  without  previously  obtaining  the  consent 
of  General  Chaffee.  You  must  know  that  Cipriano  is  in 
favor  with  Bell ;  the  latter  can  do  nothing  but  praise  him, 
and  he  treated  him  well  toward  the  last.  What  is  more, 
one  day  when  the  general  was  in  the  office  of  the  provost 
of  Batangas,  he  ordered  Cipriano  to  be  called  so  that  he 
might  apologize  to  him  for  the  manner  in  which  he  had 
treated  Maria  and  me,  for,  according  to  the  general's 
account,  he  was  in  a  bad  temper,  and  said  that  we  should 
pardon  him,  for  he  was  really  ashamed.  He  told  Captain 
Curry  the  same  thing. 

Last  week,  Memong  went  to  Batangas  by  Lorenzo's 
orders,  to  get  the  confiscated  papers,  with  a  letter  from 
Lorenzo  to  Bell,  which  certainly  was  not  of  a  suppli- 
catory nature,  and  which  he  promptly  delivered.  This 
morning  we  received  a  telegram  from  Bell  which  said 
that  they  would  repair  the  "  Purisima  "  before  turning  it 
over  to  us.     Manuel  says  that  if  we  should  send  it  to 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       189 

be  repaired  it  would  cost  at  least  $8000  [Mex.],  it  is  so 
badly  damaged. 

I  am  getting  together  all  the  details  that  I  can  find 
about  the  death  of  poor  Isabelo,  and  as  soon  as  I  get 
them  all  I  shall  consider  what  I  ought  to  do  to  console 
his  poor  widow  a  little.   .  .   . 

I  believe  I  have  not  yet  told  you  that  the  grandmother 
of  Pindong  died  three  months  ago,  and  it  would  not  be 
too  much  to  say  that  it  was  through  fear  lest  they  should 
imprison  her  sons. 

Do  not  be  in  the  least  troubled  about  mother,  who, 
thanks  to  God,  is  better,  and  does  not  become  ill.  We 
are  all  satisfied  with  your  going  to  America,  and  agree 
that  you  ought  to  remain  there  longer,  although  in  truth 
I  am  sorry  with  all  my  heart  that  you  are  so  far  away  ; 
and  besides,  I  now  have  to  do  all  the  things  that  you 
used  to  do  !  Our  only  desire  is  that  when  you  return  we 
shall  see  you  made  into  a  real  Boston  American,  and  a 
Parisian  who  can  talk  French  well !  .  .   . 

Keep  well.  I  send  good  wishes  to  you  from  all  friends 
here,  and  from  all  the  family,  and  to  Miss  Warren  and 
to  her  brother.  .   .  . 

Your  sister  who  loves  you,  Ninay. 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez,] 

Balavan,  p.  I.,  June  13,  1902. 

Mv  DEAREST  Clemen  :  I  havc  received  your  very  short 
letter,  with  some  photographs  taken  by  Mr.  Warren  in 
Manila  and  in  Hong-Kong,  but  I  do  not  know  whether 
the  number  of  pictures  is  complete,  for  they  came  open. 

Lorenzo  is  not  in  the  least  resentful  toward  our 
brother  [Sixto],  but,  on  the  contrary,  now  thinks  in  the 
same  way  that  he  does,  and  is  proud  that  he  should  have 
been  one  of  those  selected  by  this  unhappy  country  to 
serve  her.     As  to  your  journey  to  America,  he  is  also 


190       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

satisfied,  and,  what  is  more,  he  has  decided  to  send  us 
there  as  soon  as  the  division  of  the  property  is  con- 
cluded. 

According  to  Manuel,  the  "  Purisima"  is  now  in  the 
dock  for  repairs,  and  will  not  be  able  to  make  trips  again 
for  about  a  month.  All  the  expenses  for  this  will  be 
paid  by  the  Government. 

Beheve  me,  Clemen,  now  more  than  ever  I  miss  you 
when  I  have  to  do  all  the  things  that  you  used  to  do ; 
and  it  is  very  hard  for  me,  so  hard  that  I  begin  to  cry 
when  I  think  of  you,  at  the  same  time  calling  down 
anathemas  on  Bell,  who  is  the  cause  of  your  being  so 
far  from  us.  I  do  not  mean  by  this  that  you  should 
come  back  now  ;  no,  for  now  that  you  are  there  and  have 
taken  the  first  step  and  have  sacrificed  yourself  by  leav- 
ing our  mother,  I,  like  all  the  others  in  the  house,  want 
you  to  improve  the  occasion,  seeing  and  studying  all  the 
good  things  of  which  we  are  ignorant  in  this  country. 

You  charge  me  to  be  very  judicious  and  prudent ;  that 
is  the  line  of  conduct  I  have  been  observing  ever  since 
your  departure.  And  now,  believe  me,  to  our  brothers 
only  am  I  still  a  child,  for  they  continue  to  treat  me  as 
such;  but  outside  of  the  house  they  say  that  I  have 
changed  much,  and  they  have  excellent  reason  for  saying 
that  misfortunes  transform  one. 

As  for  our  amusements,  I  can  only  tell  you  that  every 
afternoon  we  go  out  into  the  garden  to  see  the  flowers, 
for  it  is  a  pleasure  to  see  how  many  there  are.  If  you 
saw  those  that  you  planted,  tears  of  joy  would  come  to 
your  eyes  to  see  how  flourishing  they  are ;  and,  as  you 
can  imagine,  the  expression  that  comes  oftenest  to  our 
tongue  is,  "  If  Clemen  could  see  this,  how  pleased  she 
would  be !  "  Indeed,  all  the  roses  are  flourishing.  The 
last  day  of  May,  when  it  was  our  turn  to  offer  flowers 
to  the  Virgin,  we  did  not  have  to  send  to  other  towns  for 
them  as  in  former  years,  for  we  had  enough,  and  there 
were  some  magnificent  branches  among  those  which  we 
selected  and  used. 


STORY    OF    THK    LOPEZ    FAMILY       191 

We  told  you  when  we  were  in  Manila  that  we  should 
have  nothing  more  to  do  with  the  American  officers 
when  we  returned  here.  But  in  view  of  what  all  those, 
who  call  themselves  our  friends,  are  doing  for  us  we 
cannot  possibly  carry  out  our  resolution.  Last  Sunday 
we  were  obliged  to  attend  a  ball,  given,  according  to 
their  account,  in  honor  of  the  ladies  of  the  Lopez  fam- 
ily, which  took  place  in  the  Commandancia ;  and  this,  in 
spite  of  the  objections  we  made  in  order  to  avoid  going. 
We  were  there  until  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when 
they  at  last  permitted  us  to  leave.  It  was  quite  gay,  for 
almost  all  Balayan  was  there ;  and  besides,  they  had 
made  much  preparation,  so  that  they  had  everything. 
At  any  other  time  I  should  have  been  somewhat  di- 
verted, but  at  present,  far  from  being  so,  I  was  sad  ;  and, 
the  more  attention  they  paid  to  us,  the  more  I  wished  to 
cry. 

You  cannot  imagine,  Clemen,  how  gallant  and  defer- 
ential these  egregious  officers  are  toward  us.  Without 
going  any  further  for  example,  every  time  they  receive 
cablegrams  with  sensational  news,  or  newspapers,  they 
can  hardly  take  time  to  get  them  to  us.  Last  night 
they  brought  their  large  phonograph  (I  have  not  seen  so 
large  a  one  even  in  Manila),  so  that  we  might  hear  it  ; 
and  other  things  of  the  same  sort.  So  that  we  can  do 
no  less  than  be  grateful  to  them. 

I  close  this,  telling  you  to  keep  well,  as  we  all  do. 

Good-bye  ;  you  are  not  forgotten  by  your  sister  who 
loves  you.  Ninay. 


[The  three  following  letters  from  Manuel  and  Juliana 
tell,  among  other  things,  of  the  wearisome  delay  in  the 
fulfillment  of  General  Bell's  promise  to  repair  and  return 
the  "  Purisima."  Indeed,  the  promise  was  never  com- 
pletely fulfilled  —  as  will  be  seen  later.] 


192       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 


[From  Manuel  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Manila,  June  14,  1902, 

My  dear  Sister  :  We  have  been  expecting  letters 
from  you  for  some  days,  but  have  received  nothing 
except  the  newspapers  directed  to  JuHana.  We  have  not 
heard  from  Pepe  either,  and  we  are  wondering  what  the 
reason  can  be. 

Very  likely,  if  you  do  not  receive  this  letter  by  post, 
you  will  receive  it  from  a  friend  of  mine,  Don  Vicente 
Reyes,  who  is  going  to  America  with  his  wife  for  the 
sake  of  the  trip  and  also  to  take  some  students.  This 
friend  promised  me  that  if  his  journey  goes  well  he  will 
arrange  to  look  you  up  in  Boston.  You  can  learn  a 
great  many  things  about  the  Philippines  from  him, 
for,  although  he  has  never  mixed  in  politics,  he  will 
know  about  many  things  that  have  happened  in  this 
country. 

Here  we  all  continue  in  good  health,  thank  God,  as 
does  mother  also,  who  has  not  been  ill  again  since  we 
were  liberated.    The  whole  family  are  still  in  Balayan, 

As  for  the  steamer  "Purisima,"  she  still  continues  in 
the  hands  of  the  military,  for  up  to  date  they  have  not 
repaired  the  injuries  caused  during  the  five  months'  use. 
We  have  not  made  any  claim  for  indemnity  for  the  use 
of  the  boat,  as  it  is  not  yet  in  our  hands.  Moreover,  it 
may  be  useless  to  make  a  claim  here,  for  many  have 
already  done  so,  but  without  results  so  far.  Therefore,  I 
believe  it  would  be  better,  if  it  is  possible,  to  make  the 
claim  in  America,  so  that  our  rights  may  receive  more 
attention. 

It  is  said  that  General  Bell  has  been  recalled  by  the 
Secretary  of  War,  and  I  have  been  assured  that  on  his 
return  from  Samar  he  will  go  to  the  United  States,  and 
there  perhaps  you  will  see  him.  Many  have  assured  me 
that  General  Bell  has  been  recalled  because  of  questions 
about  Batangas,  and  that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  has  asked  of  him  an  account  of  events  in  our 


►J    •§ 


"^ 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       193 

province.  I  have  not  much  faith  in  this  news.  You 
already  know  that  in  our  country  there  are  now  many 
rumors  and  few  truths ! 

I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  send  you  any  money,  as 
we  are  only  bc.i;inning  to  sell  cattle.  The  money  which 
I  brought  from  Balayan,  and  which  I  ought  t(j  have  sent 
to  you,  I  spent  instead  on  the  "  Oretano,"  for  otherwise 
the  boat  would  have  rotted ;  in  this  way  I  spent  more 
than  $5000  [Mex.].  On  my  return  from  Balayan,  or 
when  the  "  Oretano  "  arrives  with  a  cargo  of  sugar,  I  will 
at  once  send  you  a  draft.  I  do  not  dare  get  credit  here 
in  Manila,  for  the  business  is  still  going  badly,  and  you  will 
understand  also  that  the  little  money  that  I  formerly  had 
is  now  all  spent,  and  I  have  no  capital  with  which  to  start 
my  business  once  more.  On  account  of  my  imprison- 
ment I  have  lost  all  my  customers  and  commercial 
connections,  but  I  believe,  if  the  steamers  can  make 
frequent  trips  again  without  being  delayed  by  the  quar- 
antine, I  can  start  my  business  once  more. 

As  for  the  cholera,  it  has  made  great  ravages  in  our 
province,  especially  in  the  capital.  I  am  told  that  in 
Balayan  the  death-rate  went  as  high  as  fifteen  or  twenty 
per  day  during  the  last  two  weeks.  But  now  that  the 
rain  has  come  it  is  disappearing  here  in  Manila,  as  well 
as  in  the  provinces. 

Captain  Curry  has  given  up  his  position  as  chief  of 
police,  and  is  now  in  Camarines. 

No  more  at  present.  Many  regards  from  all  ;  we 
hope  that  you  are  well,  and  you  know  that  you  have  a 
brother  who  loves  you.  Manuel. 

P.  S.  Greet  Messrs.  Fiske  and  Thomas  for  me,  and 
ask  them  to  pardon  me  that  I  could  not  have  the  pleasure 
of  offering  them  my  services  on  the  day  of  their  depart- 
ure for  America.  Manuel. 


194       STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Balayan,  p.  I.,  July  9,  1902. 

Dearest  Clemen  :  When  you  receive  this  letter,  you 
will  already  have  learned  by  the  papers  that  the  cholera 
has  spread  all  over  the  province  of  Batangas.  Twenty 
deaths  a  day  have  been  reported  here  in  the  town  of 
Balayan  ;  but  since  Sunday  the  number  of  those  attacked 
has  diminished  very  much,  and  there  were  only  two  or 
three  deaths.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  at  last  it  has 
rained,  for  during  the  last  two  months  the  heat  has  been 
insupportable.  We  have  lost  several  friends  through  this 
disease.  I  am  sorry  to  tell  you  that  poor  Nieves  and 
her  two  children  also  are  victims.  Julita  and  Miling 
were  buried  with  her.  As  for  us,  thank  God,  the  cholera 
has  been  mild  among  our  serving-people,  and  we  are 
hoping  that  we  may  not  have  any  deaths  among  them  to 
regret,  for  it  is  diminishing. 

Lorenzo  sends  word,  begging  that  you  will  excuse 
him  because  he  cannot  write  to  you  now,  as  he  is  very 
much  occupied ;  and  besides,  I  do  not  know  what  the 
trouble  is,  but  he  is  in  very  delicate  health.  We  have 
advised  him  a  thousand  and  one  times  to  go  abroad  for 
a  change  of  air,  which  would  do  him  good  now  that  he 
does  not  wish  to  go  to  Manila,  but  he  always  answers 
"No,"  making  a  "sea  of  objections";  and,  after  all, 
perhaps  he  is  right.  Cipriano  continues  in  Abra  de  Hog, 
and  is  looking  after  the  cattle  business.  Manuel,  as  I 
told  you  in  my  previous  letter,  lives  in  the  house  of 
[in  Manila]. 

It  is  now  a  month  and  more  since  we  have  received  a 
letter  from  you,  and  so,  we  are  troubled ;  nor  have  we 
heard  from  Pepe  either. 

Quita  and  I  are  sending  you  our  pictures  in  a  group, 
and  I  send  also  mine  alone  for  our  friend ;  I  promised 
when  he  was  here  to  send  it  to  him.  They  are  not  very 
good,  but  they  seemed  to  us  the  best  positions  among 
those  we  had  taken.    The  pictures  of  our  friends,  which 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       195 

you  request,  I  have  asked  for  in  Manila,  telling  how  much 
you  want  them,  and  they  have  promised  to  send  them. 
The  neckties  for  Mrs.  Smith,*  which  Pazita  must  have 
long  since  finished,  I  have  had  no  opportunity  to  send 
for  ;  since,  as  you  know,  Manuel  is  useless  for  things  of 
that  sort ;  and  besides,  now  that  he  is  doing  everything 
in  Manila  he  will  not  have  time. 

I  must  tell  you  that  up  to  the  present  time  the  repairs 
on  the  "  Purisima  "  have  not  been  begun,  as  Bell  prom- 
ised our  brothers  ;  and  recently  he  even  wished  to  return 
it  to  us  in  its  damaged  condition.  If  we  send  to  have  it 
repaired  at  our  own  expense  it  will  cost  at  least  $7000 
(Mex.).  Lorenzo  replied  to  the  communication  from 
Bell  that  he  could  not  accept  the  steamer,  since  it  is  not 
repaired  ;  that  he  wished  it  in  as  good  condition  as  it 
was  when  they  took  it  from  us  ;  and  that  as  for  the  time 
required  for  the  repairs,  that  depended  entirely  upon 
Bell.  We  do  not  know  whether  they  will  pay  us  for  this 
delay ;  and  believe  me,  this  is  one  of  the  reasons  for 
Lorenzo's  being  so  worn  and  worried.  Just  imagine  !  — 
two  months  have  passed  in  this  very  grievous  delay,  and 
no  interest  whatever  has  been  taken  in  having  the  steamer 
quickly  done,  when  it  is  known  only  too  well  how  much 
we  need  it.  But  let  us  have  patience  with  these  people, 
who  never  weary  of  grinding  us  down  ! 

I  must  stop,  for  now  it  is  getting  very  late.  Give  my 
remembrances  to  our  brother  and  friends. 

From  your  sister  who  loves  you,  Ninay. 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Balayan,  p.  L,  August  4,  1902. 
Dearest  Clemen  :  ...   It  has  been  an  immense  de- 
light to  us  to  hear  from  you  after  the  two  months  during 


*  Mrs.  Elbert  Ellis  Smith,  of  Chicago,  in  whose  care  Clemencia  came 
from  Hong-Kong,  and  to  whom  she  is  indebted  for  many  kindnesses. 


196       STORY   OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

which  we  have  heard  nothing  of  you  except  by  hearsay  ; 
especially  as  nothing  else  is  talked  of  in  this  town  but 
the  news  that  you  are  to  appear  before  the  Senate  Com- 
mittee. This  news  was  known  immediately,  and  I  was, 
perhaps,  one  of  the  first  to  hear  it,  for  one  of  the  officers 
who  was  here  was  kind  enough  to  give  me  a  copy  of  the 
cablegram  which  he  had  just  received,  telling  me  at  the 
same  time  that  it  was  a  sensational  piece  of  news  for 
our  country.  What,  then,  is  the  result  of  it  ?  Did  it 
actually  take  place  ?  God  grant  that  it  may  produce  a 
good  effect  for  the  benefit  of  all,  and  that  in  this  way  we 
may  at  last  know  whether  or  not  there  is  any  justice. 

Some  rigorous  orders  from  Bell  have  been  circulated 
here,  absolutely  prohibiting  his  officers  from  interfering 
in  civil  matters,  or  with  the  civil  employees,  at  least  unless 
the  latter  call  for  assistance.     Not  so  bad. 

You  will  already  know  that  for  upwards  of  a  month 
we  have  had  Civil  Government ;  the  governor  appointed 
is  Senor  Simeon  Luz.  It  is  said  that  Bell  will  remain  a 
month  longer  in  Batangas  to  receive  claims  for  damages 
on  account  of  what  the  military  have  done  in  the  towns. 
Much  good  it  will  do  to  hear  these  claims  for  the  purpose 
of  doing  justice,  if  he  still  holds  the  idea  that  in  order  to 
pacify  the  people  it  was  necessary  to  adopt  the  measures 
which  his  policy  entailed !  Imagine  whether  any  one 
will  approach  him  to  claim  damages  for  the  cruelties 
committed  by  his  own  officers  !  I  am  very  sure  that  our 
countrymen,  whether  through  fear  or  through  a  lack  of 
confidence  as  to  their  obtaining  satisfaction,  will  do  noth- 
ing of  the  sort,  —  especially  as  it  has  now  become  evi- 
dent that  it  is  useless,  and  only  wastes  one's  breath. 

As  to  the  "  Purisima,"  up  to  the  present  time  the 
repairs  have  not  been  begun,  although  Bell  promised  to 
send  it  [to  the  docks]  long  ago,  in  order  to  return  it 
to  us  promptly.  Manuel  went  to  Batangas  a  week  ago 
to  talk  with  him,  but  we  have  not  yet  heard  what  reso- 
lution Bell  has  come  to.  A  month  ago  ...  we  received 
a  dispatch  from  Bell  saying  that,  in  view  of  the  time  that 


STORY    OF    THK    LOPKZ    FAMILY       197 

has  passed  by,  during  which  the  work  on  the  "  Purisima  " 
had  not  been  begun,  did  we  not  now  wish  that  he  should 
immediately  transfer  it  to  us  ?  To  which  we  answered 
that,  having  once  decided  to  retain  the  steamer,  he  could 
also  decide  as  to  the  length  of  time  he  would  retain  it ; 
but  that  he  must  understand  that  on  no  account  did  we 
wish  to  have  the  steamer  in  such  a  damaged  condition 
as  the  "  Purisima  "  is  in  at  present.  As  he  has  offered  to 
send  it  to  be  repaired,  but  offered  nothing  for  the  use  of 
it,  it  is  my  opinion  that  we  had  better  claim  compensa- 
tion ;  that  is,  assuming  that  he  denies  liability,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  circular  which  he  issued  to  the  effect  that 
all  the  houses  which  his  troops  have  occupied,  as  well  as 
other  things  which  they  have  used,  are  not  to  be  paid 
for  if  their  owners  were  involved  in  the  insurrection. 
But  as  the  steamer  is  in  Jose's  name,  and  as  Manuel  is 
the  manager,  it  would  be  just  [for  us  to  make  a  claim], 
and  I  do  not  believe  that  it  will  be  useless ;  but  this 
will  be  done  after  the  steamer  has  been  returned  to  us. 
Let  us  drop  this  subject,  which  puts  me  in  a  bad  humor. 

Manuel  has  been  here  to  spend  a  few  days  with  us. 
He  had  no  alternative  but  to  come  by  land,  via  Calamba, 
in  order  not  to  be  quarantined.  He  is  as  well  as  ever,  and 
told  me  that  he  had  written  to  you  several  times,  telling 
you  of  his  experiences  during  his  imprisonment.  .  .  . 

I  will  end  now,  for  the  transport  starts  soon,  and  I  am 
afraid  this  will  not  be  in  time.   .  .  . 

For  the  present,  receive  an  embrace  from  your  sister, 
who  loves  you.  Ninay 


[The  history  of  the  "  Purisima  "  extends  beyond  the 
limits  of  this  series  of  letters,  and  so,  a  brief  account  of 
what  has  occurred  up  to  date  (November,  1903)  may 
not  be  out  of  place  here. 

Shortly  after  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  with  Amer- 
ica,—  that  is,  when  the  first  shipping  regulations  were 


198       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

issued  by  the  American  authorities  at  Manila,  —  the 
"  Purisima"  was  entered  under  these  regulations  and  has 
ever  since  carried  the  American  flag.  For  the  two  and 
a  half  years  between  that  time  and  the  seizure  by 
General  Bell,  the  *'  Purisima  "  had  been  trading  between 
Manila  (where  Manuel  lived  and  had  his  shipping  office) 
and  the  ports  of  Batangas,  Tayabas,  and  Marinduque. 
No  charge  was  ever  made,  nor  was  any  suspicion  enter- 
tained, that  the  boat  was  engaged  in  trade  directly,  indi- 
rectly, or  remotely  connected  with  the  "insurgents."  It 
returned  to  Manila  once  or  twice  a  fortnight,  —  accord- 
ing to  the  number  or  distance  of  the  ports  visited,  —  and 
all  its  movements  were  known  to  the  Manila  authorities, 
including  Captain  Curry,  the  chief  of  police,  who,  in  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Warren,  says  :  "  Manuel  Lopez,  who  lives 
in  Manila  with  Mariano,  /  am  satisfied  has  dotie  nothing 
disloyal." 

The  "  Purisima  "  could  therefore  have  been  seized  or 
dealt  with  at  any  time  by  the  Manila  authorities  upon 
proof,  or  even  suspicion,  of  its  improper  use  by  the 
owner,  or  by  the  manager  —  Manuel,  But  instead, 
Manuel  was  allowed  to  go  on  his  usual  trip  to  Boac, 
Marinduque,  which  was  under  Civil  Government ;  and, 
in  order  to  get  him  and  the  "  Purisima"  under  military 
jurisdiction.  General  Bell  —  or  an  ofificer  under  his  com- 
mand and  acting  under  his  instructions  —  had  recourse 
to  a  distinctly  illegal  proceeding,  involving  a  petty  decep- 
tion unworthy  of  a  soldier. 

In  this  manner  the  boat  was  seized  and  used  by  the 
military  authorities  for  a  period  of  157  days  ;  after  which 
it  was  held  by  them,  azvaiting  and  undergoing  repairs, 
for  a  further  period  of  1 13  days  —  making  a  total  of  270 
days  during  which  Manuel  was  deprived  of  its  use.  It 
was  then  returned  in  a  partly  repaired,  unsatisfactory 
condition,  necessitating,  before  it  could  be  used,  an 
expenditure  by  Manuel  of  ^450  (gold)  for  additional 
repairs. 

Manuel  therefore  sent  in  a  claim  for  the  use  of  the 


STORY    OF   THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       199 

boat  for  270  days,  at  the  rate  of  $50  (gold)  per  day,  plus 
the  $450  spent  on  repairs.  This  rate  must  be  regarded 
as  exceedingly  moderate  in  view  of  the  fact  that  Manuel 
had  previously  received  $150  (Mex.)  per  day,  for  the  use 
of  the  boat,  and  that  General  Bell  himself  had  offered 
the  same  rate  for  a  continuance  of  its  hire. 

In  response  to  Manuel's  claim,  General  Davis  offered 
to  recommend  the  payment  of  a  part  of  it,  as  will  be  seen 
by  his  letter  which  follows.] 


[From  Major-General  Davis  to  Manuel  Lopez.] 

Headquarters,  Division  of  the  Philippines, 

Manila,  P.  I.,  P"ebruary  25,  1903. 
Mr.  M.  Lopez  y  Castelo, 

36,  Regina  Regente  St.,  Manila,  P.  I. 

Sir  :  Referring  to  the  claim  made  by  you  under  date 
of  October  14,  1902,  as  agent  for  your  brother,  Jose 
Lopez  y  Castelo,  for  indemnification  on  account  of  the 
seizure  and  use  of  the  Steamer  "  Purisima  Concepcion," 
I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  under  the  laws  and 
regulations  of  the  United  States  I  have  not  the  power 
to  liquidate  such  a  claim  and  it  will  be  necessary  to 
forward  the  papers  to  Washington  for  consideration  by 
higher  authority. 

Assuming  that  the  owners  of  the  vessel  have  been 
guilty  of  no  act  of  disloyalty  to  the  United  States  since 
the  ratification  of  the  Treaty  of  Paris  on  April  i  ith, 
1899,  I  am  disposed,  when  forwarding  the  papers,  to 
make  a  recommendation  as  to  the  settlement,  pro\aded  I 
know  beforehand  that  such  a  settlement  would  be  accept- 
able to  the  claimants. 

This  recommendation  would  be  that  the  United  States 
pay  the  owners  of  the  "  Purisima  Concepcion  "  $40, 
United  States  currency,  per  day,  from  December  12, 
1901  to  May  17,  1902,  inclusive, —  157  days,  —  plus 
^450,  United  States  currency,  claimed  for  completion  of 
repairs   by   owners,   making  a  total  of    56730,  United 


200       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

States  currency  ;  this  sum  to  be  in  final  settlement  in 
full  of  all  claims  growing  out  of  the  seizure,  use,  damage, 
and  detention  of  this  vessel  by  the  United  States. 

The  period  of  157  days  covers  the  time  the  vessel  was 
in  actual  use  by  the  United  States,  and  does  not  include 
the  period  from  May  18  to  September  8,  1902,  during 
which  time  the  vessel  was  undergoing  repairs  or  awaiting 
repairs.  These  repairs  cost  the  United  States  $1475.58, 
United  States  currency,  but  it  will  be  noted  that  their 
cost  is  not  deducted  from  the  amount  it  is  proposed  to 
pay,  viz.,  $6730. 

Please  inform  me  whether  such  a  settlement  upon  the 
conditions  named  will  be  accepted  by  the  owners  of  the 
vessel,  in  order  that  I  may  make  my  recommendation 
accordingly. 

I  desire  it  to  be  distinctly  understood,  however,  that 
I  cannot  guarantee  that  this  recommendation  will  be 
adopted  by  the  authorities  in  Washington,  and  to  further 
advise  you  that,  should  the  terms  and  conditions  of  the 
settlement  to  be  proposed  in  said  recommendation  be 
not  acceptable  to  the  owners  of  the  vessel,  I  will  forward 
the  papers  without  any  recommendation. 
Very  respectfully, 

[Signed]  George  W.  Davis, 

Major-  General, 
Command. y  U.  S.  A. 

[To  this  offer  of  General  Davis's,  Manuel  replied  in 
the  following  terms,  which,  if  not  expressed  in  correct 
English,  are  quite  clear  as  to  meaning.] 

[From  Manuel  Lopez  to  Major-General  Davis.] 

Manila,  P.  I.,  March  8,  1903. 
[Major-General  Davis, 

Commander,  U.  S.  A.,  Manila,  P.  I.] 
General  :  I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  your 
proposal  [dated  February  25,  1903]  for  settlement  of  my 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       201 

claim  for  the  "  Purisima  Conccpcion,"  [made]  on  October 
14,  1902,  is  not  acceptable  to  the  owner,  as  being  known 
[i.  e.,  as  it  is  known]  that  General  Bell  offered  to  lease  it 
for  one  hundred  and  fifty  ($150)  dollars,  local  currency, 
per  day.     The  vessel  was  necessarily  under  repairs. 

The  period  from  May  18  to  September  8,  1902  was 
occupied  in  repairing  the  vessel.  This  unnecessar[il]y 
long  time  was  wasted.  It  was  not  in  my  power  to  pre- 
vent it,  [for]  it  [the  steamer]  had  not  been  transferred 
to  me. 

Therefore,  my  claim  that  the  lease  should  not  go  below 
^50  [per  day].  United  States  currency,  is  just,  and  should 
cover  the  above  date  of  repairing. 

Hoping  that  you,  with  the  higher  authorities  at  Wash- 
ington, will  consider  the  said  above,  I  am, 
Very  respectfully, 
[Signed]  M.  Lopez. 

[On  receipt  of  this  intimation  from  Manuel,  General 
Davis  apparently  sent  the  papers  to  Washington  without 
making  any  recommendation  —  in  accordance  with  the 
closing  paragraph  of  his  letter.  And  in  due  course  the 
following  extraordinary  reply  was  received  through  the 
local  commander  in  Batangas.] 

Headquarters  Third  Brigade, 

Adjutant-General's  Ofifice, 
Batangas  [City],  P.  I.,  August  8th,  1903. 
Senor  Jose  Lopez  y  Castelo, 

Balayan,  Batangas,  Philippine  Islands. 
Sir  :  I  am  directed  by  the  Brigade  Commander  to 
inform  you,  with  reference  to  your  claim  for  use  of  the 
steamer  "  Purisima  Conccpcion  "  by  the  United  States, 
from  December  13,  1901  to  September  8,  1902,  that  the 
papers  in  this  case,  having  been  submitted  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  W^ar,  were  returned  disallowing  the  claim  and 
with  the  following  remarks : 


202       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

"  The  property  which  is  the  basis  of  said  claim 
was  the  private  property  of  a  public  enemy  of  the 
United  States,  and  was  seized  in  time  of  war  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Army.  Such  a  seizure  amounted 
to  a  formal  military  impressment  of  this  property 
and  resulted  in  no  legal  obligation  to  make  any  com- 
pensation whatever  to  the  owner  or  his  agent  for 
any  use  that  was  made  of  it.  The  owner  has 
already  been  treated  with  extreme  liberality  in  the 
return  of  this  property  to  him  in  proper  state  of 
repair.  It  is  recommended  that  the  claim  be  dis- 
allowed. It  certainly  should  not  be  paid  unless  the 
War  Department  is  ready  to  compensate  all  of  its 
late  enemies  in  the  Philippine  Islands  for  property 
seized  during  the  progress  of  the  Philippine  Insur- 
rection." 

The  papers  in  the  case  have  been  retained  on  file  in 
the  office  of  the  Quartermaster  General,  War  Depart- 
ment, Washington. 

Very  respectfully, 
[Signed]  Geo.  H.  Shelton, 

Capt.  Ilth  U.  S.  Infantry, 

A  djiLtant-General. 


[It  will  be  observed  that  the  "  remarks  "  contained  in 
the  foregoing  letter,  which  were  doubtless  contributed 
by  some  small  red-tape  official,  and  upon  which  the  re- 
fusal of  the  claim  is  based,  describe  Manuel  —  or  Jose, 
who  is  legally  the  owner  of  the  "  Purisima  "  —  as  "  ^ 
public  enemy  of  the  United  States  "  !  It  would  be  in- 
teresting to  learn  what  was  the  evidence  or  the  official 
or  other  record  upon  which  this  extraordinary  charge  is 
based.  Manuel,  as  has  been  shown,  had  been  living 
quietly  in  Manila  during  the  previous  two  and  a  half 
years,  and  there  is  testimony  by  an  official  of  the  United 
States  Government  to  the  effect  that   he  had   "  do7ie 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       203 

nothing  disloyal''  Josd,  a  youth  of  twenty-two  years, 
has  spent  the  last  three  of  them  in  England  !  There  is 
not  a  tittle  of  evidence  to  show  that  either  of  these  men 
had  ever,  by  act  or  implication,  been  "a  public  enemy 
of  the  United  States."  The  same  can  be  said  of  all  the 
remaining  members  of  the  Lopez  family,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Cipriano  who,  ten  months  previous  to  the  seizure 
of  the  "  Purisima,"  had  honorably  surrendered,  taken 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States,  and  was  therefore 
entitled  to  immunity  and  protection.  Of  Sixto,  as  has 
already  been  shown,  it  can  truthfully  be  said  that,  al- 
though he  is  an  opponcjit  he  is  no  more  an  cnc7ny  of  the 
United  States  than  is  Senator  Hoar,  and  therefore  his 
property  would  rightfully  be  no  more  liable  to  seizure 
than  would  that  of  the  honored  Senator. 

Unless,  therefore,  it  can  be  shown  that,  since  the  date 
of  Cipriano's  surrender,  he  or  some  other  member  of  the 
Lopez  family  has  been  guilty  of  an  act  of  disloyalty,  or 
that  Cipriano  had  previously  been  guilty  of  an  act  not 
included  in  or  covered  by  the  terms  of  his  surrender, 
the  statement  as  to  the  owner  of  the  "  Purisima  "  being 
"a  public  enemy  of  the  United  States"  is  a  baseless 
fiction. 

But  probably  every  one  has  had  to  suffer  at  times 
from  the  over-officiousness  of  the  small  official,  whose 
display  of  authority,  whenever  he  gets  an  opportunity,  is 
always  imposing  and  —  ridiculous!  The  Lopez  family 
may  in  the  meantime  rest  assured  of  ultimate  justice. 
Their  claim,  in  whole  or  in  part,  according  as  it  is  valid, 
will  be  recognized  when  the  facts  of  the  case  are  brought 
under  the  notice  of  the  proper  authorities,  for  it  must  be 
assumed  that  the  American  Government  is  prepared  to 
pay  for  the  use  of  property,  ^ven  though  it  has  been 
obtained  by  ^^ formal  military  impressment." 


204       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

The  opening  sentence  of  the  following  letter  refers 
to  the  receipt  by  Juliana  of  the  Report  of  the  Senate 
Committee  on  the  Philippines,  which  contained  a  less  per- 
fect translation  of  some  of  the  letters  included  in  this 
book.  Juliana  thereupon  proceeds  to  correct  the  reports 
previously  given  of  the  seizure  of  the  "  Oretano  "  and 
of  the  manner  of  the  death  of  Isabelo  Capacia,  Com- 
ment is  unnecessary  on  what  Juliana  has  to  say  of  the  un- 
founded suspicions  of  some  of  the  people  of  Balayan.] 


[From  Juliana  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Balayan,  P.  I.,  August  5,  1902. 

My  dearest  Clemen  :  I  have  read  the  papers  you 
sent  me,  as  well  as  our  letters  translated  into  English. 
I  am  sorry  to  tell  you  that  some  of  the  news  which  I 
have  given  you  was  not  exact ;  but  no  one  ought  to  be 
surprised  at  that,  for  the  ports  were  closed.  For  example, 
that  about  the  "  Oretano  "  was  not  correct.  The  truth 
is  that  it  was  detained  for  some  days,  not  as  being  con- 
fiscated, but  because  Nasugbu,  where  the  boat  put  in, 
was  then  closed.  Naturally,  they  [the  boatmen]  were 
detained  in  order  to  make  a  declaration,  in  which  they 
stated  that  Nasugbu  was  the  only  port  wherein  they 
could  save  themselves  from  the  storm  ;  after  which  they 
were  allowed  to  go.  In  regard  to  the  death  of  Isabelo 
I  also  have  some  corrections  to  make,  but  I  have  left 
this  to  a  friend,  who  will  give  you  all  the  details. 

I  have  been  told  that  Bell  is  very  well  prepared  to 
defend  himself  against  your  demands  at  Washington, 
and,  according  to  the  person  who  told  me,  has  a  history 
of  our  family  extending  over  the  past  ten  years.  As 
the  information  for  this  must  have  been  given  by  our 
enemies,  I  believe  that  it  can  hardly  be  favorable  to  us, 
yet  what  can  they  say  about  the  conduct  of  our  brothers  ? 
In  any  case  they  will  say  that  we  do  not  sympathize  with 
the  Americans.     That  is  the  only  thing  there  is  — except 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       205 

that  we  have  a  brother,  Sixto  Lopez.  Therefore  you 
had  better  prepare  yourself,  in  case  General  Bell  goes  to 
America  armed  with  lies  and  calumnies. 

Every  day  the  feeling  of  distrust  by  the  Filipinos 
toward  the  Americans  grows  stronger,  for,  when  we  had 
the  cholera  here,  can  you  credit  that  the  common  people 
thought  and  believed  —  and  even  some  of  the  better 
educated  people  as  well  —  that  the  Americans  were  pay- 
ing to  have  Filipinos  poisoned ;  and  that  it  is  due  to  this 
that  there  have  been  so  many  deaths  ?  Those  were  the 
comments  made  during  that  time,  especially  in  Batangas 
and  Taal.  /  cannot  believe  such  infamy  on  their  part, 
but  I  am  telling  you  of  it  so  that  you  may  realize  to 
what  a  point  the  distrust  among  the  people  has  reached. 
They  believe  the  Americans  capable  of  anything.  When 
the  cholera  was  at  the  worst  in  this  town,  many  people 
did  not  go  to  the  American  doctor  to  be  treated,  for  it 
was  said  that  there  was  information  that,  as  soon  as  the 
medicine  was  taken,  the  patient  died,  even  although  he 
had  not  been  fatally  ill.  Very  often,  when  I  see  the 
interest  of  Dr.  Chidester  in  the  sick,  I  am  filled  with 
pity  on  account  of  the  distrust  which  he  inspires.  But 
there  is  no  foundation  for  such  beliefs,  either  as  to  poison 
in  the  wells  or  the  medicine ;  they  are  all  lies  which  are 
too  big  to  be  swallowed. 

But  after  all  due  allowance,  the  Americans  are  them- 
selves to  blame  for  this  distrust.  The  Filipinos  have 
seen  things  that  they  were  far  from  believing  the  Ameri- 
cans capable  of  doing,  v^hich,  nevertheless,  were  being 
done  while  the  ports  were  closed. 

The  town  remains  peaceful,  and  they  say  that  another 
company  will  be  posted  here,  so  that  we  shall  soon  have 
two,  as  we  had  formerly.  So  far,  we  have  not  the  slight- 
est complaint  to  make  of  those  who  are  here,  and  now 
they  do  not  mix  with  the  townspeople  as  they  used  to. 
We  have  no  friend  among  them,  and  it  would  have  been 
better  if  it  had  always  been  so. 

Good-bye  until  another  time.     Do  not  forget  to  give 


2o6       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

our  affectionate  regards  to   our  friends.     You  already 
know  that  you  are  not  forgotten  by  your  sister  who  loves 

you,  NiNAY, 

I  am  writing  to  Pepe  [Jose,  in  England]  at  the  same 
time,  congratulating  him  on  the  result  of  his  examina- 
tions. 


[The  following  is  a  condensed  translation  of  a  letter 
from  Seiior  Ignacio  Laines,  a  friend  of  the  Lopez  family, 
who,  at  their  request,  undertook  to  inquire  into  and  re- 
port upon  the  death  of  Isabelo  Capacia.  Senor  Laines 
has  shown  himself  to  be  a  master  of  detail,  and  much 
of  what  is  contained  in  his  letter,  both  as  to  matter  and 
manner,  was  necessary  to  a  faithful  discharge  of  his 
duty.  But,  with  a  view  to  economy  in  space,  though 
his  own  wording  has  been  retained  wherever  possible, 
many  of  his  phrases  and  repetitions  have  been  condensed 
or  omitted  from  the  following  translation,  which,  never- 
theless, is  a  faithful  rendering  of  his  account  of  a  wicked 
and  revolting  crime,  the  perpetrators  of  which  still  go 
unpunished.] 


[From  Sefior  Ignacio  Laines  to  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Balayan,  Batangas,  P.  I.,  August  ist,  1902, 
Senorita  Clemencia  Lopez  :  Unforgettable  and  distin- 
guished Friend:  — 
After  saluting  you  and  your  brother  Sixto,  I  pass 
on  to  say  [in  response  to  your  request  for  information 
about  the  death  of  Isabelo  Capacia]  that  ...  on  the 
25  th  of  December  of  last  year,  as  is  known,  General 
Bell  issued  an  order  commanding  the  reconcentration 
in  the  towns  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  province  of 
Batangas.  Isabelo  Capacia,  —  your  superintendent,  and 
assistant  consejal  of  the  municipal  district  of  Calan,  — 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       207 

in  obedience  to  the  orders  of  the  consejal,*  Francisco 
Macalaguim,  urged  and  encouraged  the  withdrawal  to 
the  town  of  all  the  inhabitants  in  his  district.  During 
this  reconcentration  Isabelo  took  shelter  in  your  house 
in  Progress  Street,  opposite  mine,  and  had  lived  there 
quietly  with  his  family  for  a  few  days,  when  Senor 
Manuel  Ramirez  called,  and  took  him  into  the  hall  of 
the  house  of  Hilarion  Ramirez,  Manuel's  brother.  Once 
there,  Ramirez,  in  the  threatening  tone  characteristic  of 
the  present  secret  service,  notified  Isabelo  that  the  com- 
manding ofificer,  Captain  Cheever,  knew  that  he  [Isabelo] 
still  possessed  three  guns,  and  was  also  cognizant  of 
the  place  in  which  were  buried  the  fifty  guns  belonging 
to  Cipriano,  and  that,  if  he  made  any  attempt  at  con- 
cealment, he  would  be  subjected  to  very  severe  punish- 
ment. Isabelo  answered  that  it  was  indeed  true  that  he 
had  had  a  gun,  but  that  it  had  been  taken  by  the  Ameri- 
can soldiers  when  they  captured  him  in  April  of  1900; 
that  since  he  had  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  at  the 
time  of  his  liberation  he  had  done  nothing  disloyal  ; 
and  that  as  the  guns  under  the  control  of  Cipriano  had 
been  turned  over  to  the  American  authorities  when 
Cipriano  surrendered  on  the  12th  of  March,  1901,  he 
consequently  knew  nothing  of  the  fifty  guns  in  question. 
Ramirez  thereupon  took  him  to  the  convent  where  the 
military  prison  was  located,  and  left  him  in  charge  of 
the  guards.  Some  hours  later  Ramirez  returned  to 
the  prison  with  Inspector  of  Insular  Police,  Agapito 
Bunzon,  who  asked  Isabelo  why,  if  he  were  really  igno- 
rant of  these  guns,  Ramirez  should  have  inquired  of 
him  about  them.  [ !  ]  The  prisoner  replied,  as  he  had  in 
the  first  place,  that  he  knew  nothing  of  them.  He 
had  not  finished  speaking  when  Bunzon  began  to  shower 
blows  upon  him,  kicking  him  in  the  pit  of  the  stomach 
and  throwing  him  to  the  ground.  Then  followed  a  series 
of  questions,  varied  by  more  torture,  until  finally  the  two 


*  Civil  head  of  the  barrio  or  suburb 


2o8       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

emissaries  of  Cheever  left  Isabelo  alone,  having,  per- 
haps, become  tired  of  maltreating  him. 

Isabelo  could  not  tolerate  this  treatment,  and  so, 
begged  his  consejal  to  accompany  him  to  the  military 
commander,  before  whom  he  declared  his  innocence, 
and  demanded  satisfaction  for  the  cruelty  with  which 
he  had  been  treated.  Cheever,  thereupon  addressing  the 
consejal,  asked  him  if  he  would  be  responsible  for  the 
conduct  of  Isabelo.  Macalaguim  replied  that  he  would, 
adding  that  he  himself,  as  consejal,  would  be  more  likely 
than  any  one  else  to  know  what  happened  or  was  dis- 
covered within  the  limits  of  his  district,  since  it  was  his 
duty  to  know.  Cheever  had  therefore  no  alternative 
but  to  leave  Isabelo  in  peace,  although  it  was  against  his 
will  and  that  of  Ramirez. 

Now,  what  would  Ramirez  be  likely  to  do  when  he  saw 
that,  notwithstanding  his  denunciation,  this  servant  of 
the  Lopez  family  was  still  at  liberty  ?  Since  his  object 
was  to  see  this  family  completely  ruined,  would  he  not 
find  means  to  prove,  even  though  falsely,  that  Lopez 
and  all  his  superintendents  were  traitors  ?  There  could 
be  no  doubt  as  to  the  sequel. 

A  week  passed  by,  during  which  Isabelo  remained  with 
his  family,  at  peace  and  free.  Then  Captain  Cheever, 
v/ith  some  of  the  cavalry,  came  and  obliged  Isabelo  to 
follow  him  outside  the  town  by  the  Calaca  road.  In 
the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  the  party  returned,  bring- 
ing with  them  a  broken  and  useless  Mauser  rifle  of  the 
Spanish  type. 

I  was  for  a  time  unable  to  find  out  how  this  gun  had 
been  obtained,  until,  by  chance,  I  met  Vivencio  Ramos, 
who,  through  fear,  allows  himself  to  be  influenced  by  the 
lies  and  threats  of  vengeance  of  whoever  may  be  in 
power.  Vivencio  commented  on  the  finding  of  the  gun 
in  these  words : 

"  This  capture  is  due  wholly  to  the  minute  investigation  of  Cap- 
tain Manuel  [Ramirez],  and  is  almost  a  providential  occurrence." 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       209 

Here  he  stopped  speaking  a  moment,  and,  touching  me  on  the 
shoulder  as  if  to  rivet  my  attention,  he  said  :  "  Look  !  Yesterday 
afternoon  there  presented  himself  at  the  house  of  Captain  Manuel 
a  certain  Bartolo,  a  native  of  Calaca,  who  had  heard  there  that  a 
company  of  Filipino  scouts  was  being  organized  here  in  Balayan. 
Wishing  to  become  one  he  begged  Ramirez  to  aid  him,  but  Ramirez 
replied  that  he  was  sorry  he  could  not  do  so,  since,  in  order  to 
become  a  scout,  it  was  necessary  that  a  man  should  deserve  well  of 
the  Government  by  rendering  some  special  service.  Bartolo  asked 
what  services  were  necessary,  in  order  that  he  might  perform 
them.  Ramirez  then  explained  that  one  of  the  services  that  would 
qualify  him  was  the  discovery  of  the  fifty  guns  belonging  to  Lopez, 
which  had  not  yet  been  presented,  —  or  at  any  rate,  one  of 
thdm.  [!]  Bartolo  answered  that  at  that  very  moment  he  knew 
of  one  of  these  guns,  stating  that  it  belonged  to  Labelo,  assistant 
consejal  of  Calan,  and  that  he  knew  the  place  where  it  was  con- 
cealed. Thereupon  Captain  Manuel  took  him  before  Captain 
Cheever,  and  caused  him  to  repeat  his  statement.  The  result 
was  that  the  commander  immediately  went  out  with  some  of  his 
soldiers  to  Calan,  taking  Isabelo.  When  they  arrived,  the  com- 
mander said  that  if  Isabelo  did  not  point  out  the  place  where  the 
gun  was  concealed  he  would  be  shot.  Isabelo  then  confessed,  indi- 
cating that  the  gun  was  in  a  corner  of  his  house,  where  it  was  indeed 
found." 

So  much  for  Vivencio's  story.  Those  who  do  not 
know  Ramirez  would  doubtless  conclude  that  the  account 
of  the  affair  as  given  by  Vivencio  was  a  correct  state- 
ment of  the  actual  facts  of  the  case.  But  I,  who  do 
know  him,  thought  it  wise  to  make  a  personal  investiga- 
tion of  the  evidence,  before  accepting  his  statement. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  this 
Bartolo  was  an  inhabitant  of  Calaca,  and  that  at  that 
time  no  one  was  permitted  to  pass  the  rcconcentration 
lines  or  go  from  one  town  to  another,  under  penalty  of 
being  shot  by  the  soldiers  who  daily  patroled  outside  the 
zone.  It  is  to  be  observed  also  that  the  informer  was 
Ramirez,  a  man  who  cherishes  a  deadly  hatred  for  your 
family  and  for  all  your  dependents  and  friends.  Finally, 
it  should  be  known  that  Ramirez  had  under  his  command 


2IO       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

during  those  days  a  small  flying  column  composed  of 
the  convicted  robbers,  Romualdo  Tolentino  (or  Daldoc), 
Felipe  Garcia,  and  Melecio.  These  men  had  been 
granted  especial  privileges  by  the  commanding  officer, 
and  could  pass  the  lines  of  reconcentration  as  secret 
explorers,  in  order  to  search  for  guns  which  had  not  yet 
been  surrendered. 

Well,  then,  how  did  it  happen  that  this  Bartolo  had 
the  courage  to  come  to  Balayan  alone,  since  he  must  have 
known  very  well  that  on  the  way  the  patrol  might  meet 
and  kill  him  ?  He  must  have  known,  too,  that  if  he 
attempted  to  enter  any  town  he  could  not  save  himself 
from  the  local  volunteers,  whose  sole  duty  it  was  to  pre- 
vent the  entrance  and  exit  of  any  one  from  the  zone 
without  a  special  pass,  such  as  the  little  "Daldoc"  col- 
umn possessed.  No  man  with  a  head  on  his  shoulders 
would  believe  that  Bartolo  would  dare  to  do  this  at  his 
own  risk. 

In  view  of  all  this,  would  it  be  too  much  to  deduce 
that  Ramirez  had  arranged  that  "Daldoc"  should  get 
hold  of  a  gun  from  his  friends  and  companions  in  rob- 
bery, put  it  in  a  corner  of  Isabelo's  house,  and  then  have 
Isabelo  denounced  ?  Those  who  know  Ramirez  well  will 
have  no  doubt  of  this  trick,  for  he  is  a  man  capable  of 
such  deception. 

Moreover,  if  Isabelo's  guilt  had  really  been  clearly 
proven,  or  if  he  had  "  confessed  "  as  Vivencio  Ramos  says 
he  did,  there  would  have  been  no  occasion  for  the  torture 
and  death  afterward  inflicted  on  him.  It  would  have 
been  more  natural  to  order  a  court-martial,  convict,  and 
legally  shoot  him  as  a  traitor.  In  this  way  Ramirez  and 
Cheever  could  have  attained  their  object  without  scandal 
or  responsibility.  These  are  the  conclusions  to  which 
I  have  come. 

I  will  now  continue  the  history  of  poor  Isabelo  until 
his  unhappy  death,  which  was  as  follows  : 

On  Monday  afternoon,  the  day  after  that  on  which  the 
gun  was  captured,  Isabelo  was  taken  from  the  prison  and 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       211 

put  into  a  wagon  by  Inspector  Runzon,  with  a  few  sol- 
diers as  a  guard  ;  they  then  went  to  the  town  of  Tuy, 
where  a  company  of  Macabebe  "  scouts  "  was  stationed, 
under  the  command  of  the  American  officer,  Lieuten- 
ant Shawski  [?].     The  next  day,  Tuesday,  Lieutenant 
Shavvski,  Bunzon,and  the  Macabebe  soldiers  took  Isabelo 
to  the  bank  of  the  river  Matauanak,  where,  after  having 
wrapped  him  in  a  carabao  skin  and  attached  a  stone  to 
his  belt  as  a  weight,  they  threw  him  into  the  water,  allow- 
ing him  to  be  entirely  submerged.     When  the  execution- 
ers of  this  torture  saw  through  the  clear  water  that  the 
victim  no  longer  moved,  and  therefore  no  longer  breathed, 
they  took  him  out  on  the  bank,  where  they  terminated 
their  torture  by  jumping  on  his  body,  until  blood  burst 
from  his  mouth,  nose,  eyes,  and  ears  ;  finally  breaking 
some  of  his  ribs,  and  thus  they  left  him  unconscious. 
Having  accomplished  this,  Bunzon  returned  to  Balayan, 
with  the  tortured  man,  completely  mangled,  stretched 
out  in  the  wagon ;  and  in  this  condition  he  was  returned 
to  the  detention  room  in  the  convent.     When  his  wife 
heard  what  had  happened  she  begged  and  obtained  per- 
mission of  the  commanding  officer  to  see  her  husband. 
She  could  do  nothing  but  weep  when  she  saw  the  evil 
plight  of  Isabelo,  who,  in  the  midst  of  all  his  suffering, 
was  able  to  recognize  the  voice  of  his  wife.     Although 
at  first  he  could  not  speak,  yet,  when  he  realized  that 
she  was   saying  good-bye  to  him,  hQ  with  a  supreme 
effort  asked  her  not  to  go,  since  he  knew  by  his  difficulty 
in  breathing  that  he  would  die  that  night.     But  his  poor 
wife  had  no  choice,  for  the  soldiers  of  the  guard  would 
not  allow  her  to  prolong  her  stay. 

The  American  physician  of  this  detachment,  Mr. 
Cheedester  [  ?  ],  applied  all  the  convenient  remedies  to 
save  the  tortured  man,  but  it  was  all  useless,  for  in  a 
little  while  he  died.  The  body  was  then  transferred 
to  the  military  hospital,  where  it  was  submitted  to  ex- 
amination. 

On  the  following  morning,  as  soon  as  Isabelo's  vdfc 


212       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

knew  that  her  husband  had  died,  she  went  to  the  com- 
manding officer  and  begged  him  to  allow  her  to  have 
the  body,  and,  having  obtained  it,  transferred  it  to  her 
house.  Every  one  who  saw  the  body  bore  witness  to 
the  evidences  of  torture.  One  of  the  witnesses  present 
during  the  act  of  torture  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
Matauanak  was  the  brother  of  the  unfortunate  Isabelo. 
He  also  was  tortured,  but  not  to  the  same  extent. 

Whether  Isabelo  has  or  has  not  been  proved  to  be  the 
owner  of  the  captured  gun  is  not  clear  to  me ;  but  it 
is  certainly  proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  he  was  killed 
inhumanly  and  illegally. 

One  of  the  proofs  of  Isabelo's  violent  death  is  the 
record  of  the  formal  examination  of  the  body  by  the 
American  doctor,  Mr.  Cheedester,  who,  as  Vivencio 
Ramos  himself  told  me,  reported  that  Isabelo  had  died 
a  violent  death.  He  made  this  report  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  he  was  forewarned  by  Ramirez  that,  in  the  time 
of  the  Spaniards  in  the  Philippines,  matters  of  this  sort 
could  be  concealed. 

In  view  of  this  report,  Cheever  could  do  no  less  than 
name  an  examining  judge  to  take  the  iirst  steps  in  the 
case.  This  duty  fell  to  the  American  major  who  had 
been  commanding  officer  in  Bauan  last  year,  and  who 
happened  to  be  here.  The  judge  submitted  Ramirez, 
Inspector  Bunzon,  Lieutenant  Shawski,  and  all  the  sol- 
diers under  his  command,  to  an  interrogation,  and  after- 
ward took  the  papers  to  the  military  headquarters  of  the 
province.  This  is  all  that  I  can  say  as  to  the  death  of 
poor  Isabelo. 

Your  affectionate  servant,  Ignacio  Laines. 

P.  S.  They  say  that  Bell  has  returned  to  Batangas 
solely  to  hear  claims  on  account  of  abuses  committed 
by  the  military.  Apparently,  the  general  has  not  yet 
any  knowledge  of  the  death  of  Isabelo,  but  in  reality 
this  cannot  be  so,  because  of  the  official  report.  The 
most  probable  explanation  is  that  the  general  is  keeping 


STORY    OF    THK    LOPEZ    FAMILY       213 

the  report  in  his  archives,  to  look  over  when  the  Philip- 
pine Islands  are  no  longer  subject  territory  ! 


[Sefior  Laines,  doubtless  satisfied  in  his  own  mind  as 
to  how  the  ''broken  and  useless  Mauser  rifle"  came  to 
be  openly  concealed  in  Isabelo's  house,  has  not  considered 
it  worth  while  to  pursue  the  inquiry  further.  But  there 
is  one  point  to  which  attention  may  briefly  be  called.  It 
may  be  presumed  that  Isabelo  Capacia  was  a  fairly  intel- 
ligent man  —  since  he  had  been  promoted  from  the  posi- 
tion of  a  simple  farm  hand  to  that  of  superintendent  on 
one  of  the  Lopez  plantations.  Would  he,  then,  be  likely 
to  have  committed  the  supreme  folly  of  attempting  to 
conceal  a  rifle  in  the  corner  of  his  own  house?  He 
and  most  of  his  fellow-townsmen  were  under  suspicion ; 
indeed,  he  had  been  openly  accused  of  having  three  guns 
in  his  possession.  The  Lopez  family  —  to  whom  he 
owed  fidelity  and  to  whom  he  proved  faithful  unto  death 
(for  a  confession,  however  false,  would  have  saved  him 
from  further  torture)  —  were  also  charged  with  the  con- 
cealment of  arms.  Yet  we  are  asked  to  believe  that  this 
faithful  and  intelligent  soul  was  both  faithless  and  foolish 
enough  to  leave  a  rifle  —  a  useless  rifle  —  concealed  m 
the  corner  of  his  house,  while  he  himself  took  refuge  in 
that  of  his  employers  !  Furthermore,  why  did  Ramirez 
not  search  Isabelo's  house  at  the  time  when  he  charged 
Isabelo  with  the  possession  of  three  guns  —  a  week  pre- 
vious to  the  alleged  discovery  of  the  rifle  in  question } 
Why  was  it  necessary  to  bring  a  stranger  from  another 
town  to  make  the  discovery  .-'  The  reason  is  obvious  to 
those  who  know  the  Lopez  family  and  the  respect  in , 
which  they  are  held.  It  was  because  no  one  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Balayan,  however  bad  his  character,  could  be 
got  to  do  a  wicked  thing  against  the  children  of  the 
"  Defender  of  the  just." 


214       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

The  following  letter  is  from  the  aged  and  honored 
mother  of  the  Lopez  family,  Seiiora  Maria  Castelo,  and 
is  written  to  Sixto  and  Clemencia.  It  forms  a  fitting 
conclusion  to  the  series,  and  recalls  to  one's  mind  the 
marriage-feast  of  Cana,  where  the  best  wine  was  reserved 
till  the  last. 

Senora  Castelo  is  one  of  the  people,  unpretentious, 
unoffending ;  firm  in  her  adherence  to  truth  and  prin- 
ciple, and  full  of  lovingkindness  and  sympathy.  Her 
letter,  though  brief  and  couched  in  the  language  of  pru- 
dence and  self-restraint,  has  a  fullness  of  meaning  to 
those  who  have  ears  to  hear.  It  is  an  unconscious  cen- 
sure of  those  who  thoughtlessly  imagine  that  the  promise 
of  "  good  government  "  and  "  greacer  prosperity,"  provided 
by  a  foreign  hand,  will  ever  satisfy  the  heart  that  desires 
national  freedom ;  it  is  a  dignified  rebuke  to  those  who, 
in  ignorance,  speak  of  the  Filipinos  as  "savages"  and 
"Boxers  "  and  "  Apaches  "  ;  it  is  an  argument  unanswer- 
able by  those  who  —  perhaps  naturally,  in  the  absence 
of  actual  knowledge  —  have  assumed  that  opposition  to 
certain  officers  of  the  Catholic  Church  means  opposition 
to  the  Church  itself ;  it  expresses  pride  in  the  self- 
sacrifice  of  her  children  for  the  welfare  of  their  native 
land ;  it  breathes  a  spirit  of  devotion  to  duty  and  to  fam- 
ily honor  equal  to  anything  expressed  in  our  own  civiliza- 
tion ;  it  displays  a  refreshing  simplicity  of  devotion  to 
religion,  and  to  the  forms  of  religion,  which  ought  to 
make  any  church  proud  of  such  votaries.  Yet  this  is  the 
splendid  mother,  these  are  the  people,  who  have  been 
sorely  persecuted  and  deprived  of  the  "  inalienable 
rights  "  of  man,  on  the  assumption  that  they  are  ignorant 
'Of  man's  duties  and  privileges;  these  are  the  people  who 
have  been  regarded  as  irreligious,  because  they  reproved 
those  who  had  departed  from  their  original  mission  of 
love  and  self-sacrifice  and  had  become  seized  with  an 
unhallowed  spirit  of  personal  gain  ! 

The  great  value  of  these  letters  is  that  they  bring  one 
in  touch  with  the  Filipinos  themselves.     It  ceases  to  be 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       215 

a  question  of  gauging  the  reliability  of  report  or  opinion  ; 
report  is  notoriously  liable  to  be  false,  "and  opinion  to  be 
erroneous  and  contradictory.  But  in  these  letters  the 
Filipinos  are  brought  almost  face  to  face  with  the  reader, 
who  is  thereby  enabled  to  judge  for  himself  or  herself. 
The  fact  of  Scfiora  Castelo's  letter  is  worth  more  than 
volumes  of  opinion  or  argument.     Read  it  and  judge.] 


[From  Sefiora  Maria  Castelo  to  Sixto  and  Clemencia  Lopez.] 

Balayan,  p.  I.,  August  27,  1902. 

My  beloved  Children:  Although  it  is  true  that  up 
to  the  present  I  have  not  written  to  you,  still  not  a  moment 
has  passed  that  I  have  not  thought  of  you  who  are  far 
from  me,  in  a  foreign  land,  and  to  whom  I  have  no  money 
to  send  to  enable  you  to  live  in  reasonable  comfort  and 
to  continue  to  the  end  that  work  which  you  have  volun- 
tarily taken  up.  I  am  rejoiced  by  all  that  you  do  which 
contributes  toward  the  welfare  of  our  country,  and,  as  a 
mother,  I  feel  proud  to  have  children  who  sacrifice  them- 
selves for  their  native  land.  I  should  die  of  shame  if  I 
knew  that  my  children,  instead  of  honoring  the  stainless 
name  which  their  forefathers  have  left  them,  were  capable 
of  bringing  reproach  upon  it  by  not  fulfilling  the  duties 
which  every  good  Christian  and  good  citizen  owes  to  God 
and  to  man.  You  already  know  this,  but  I  repeat  it  to 
you  once  more,  so  that  the  knowledge  of  what  a  blow  it 
would  be  to  your  mother  to  receive  bad  news  of  you 
may  be  deeply  graven  on  your  hearts. 

Every  day  I  am  recovering  the  strength  which  I  was 
losing  little  by  little  in  Manila ;  counting  myself  happy 
since  the  liberation  of  your  brothers,  and  because  I  have 
returned  here  where  I  can  breathe  more  freely. 


Ninay  has  translated  to  me  several  of  your  letters  in 
which  you  speak  of  a  steam  plough.  From  what  you  say 
it  would  certainly  seem  to  be  productive,  and  advantageous 


2i6       STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY 

to  us,  but  in  these  times  I  do  not  wish  you  to  raise  a  loan 
for  such  a  purpose,  especially  as  the  property  is  not  yet 
divided.  In  truth,  I  am  afraid  of  these  large  loans, 
especially  when  I  remember  several  persons  who  have 
been  ruined  by  such.  We  ought  to  wait  and  allow  one 
or  two  of  the  large  capitalists  to  begin  first,  for,  lacking 
animals  for  the  cultivation  of  their  lands,  they  will  doubt- 
less avail  themselves  of  this  method. 

Before  closing  this  letter  let  me  remind  you  not  to 
forget  your  daily  prayers,  —  above  all,  the  rosary,  —  so 
that  you  may  be  protected  from  all  perils. 

Give  my  most  affectionate  regards  to  Mr.  Patterson 
and  to  Mr.  Warren  and  his  family,  and  congratulate  them 
on  their  happy  arrival  in  America. 

May  God  bless  you,  as  your  mother,  who  loves  you  so 
much,  blesses  you.  Maria  Castelo. 


^•i 


And  thus  the  sands  run  out.  As  the  last  grain  falls 
it  suggests  a  thought  which  neither  mind  nor  conscience 
can  avoid.  It  is  not  that  war  is  cruel  and  relentless. 
No,  with  all  its  cruelty,  war  maybe  justifiable  in  national 
self-defense,  as  homicide  is  justifiable  in  personal  self- 
defense.  Neither  is  it  that  the  American  soldier  in  the 
Philippines  has  pursued  a  course  different  from  that  which 
other  soldiers  would  have  pursued  in  similar  circum- 
stances. No,  the  policy  and  the  methods  go  hand  in 
hand.  Besides,  the  American  soldier,  when  placed  side 
by  side  with  the  soldiers  of  European  nations,  as  he 
was  placed  in  China,  shines  by  comparison  —  a  credit  to 
his  country,  to  his  flag,  and  to  his  uniform. 

Yet,  can  it  be  denied  that  a  tragedy  has  occurred  in 
the  Philippines  ?  It  may  be  called  by  some  other  name  ; 
it  may  be  shrouded  in  the  mantle  of  policy,  of  necessity, 
of  philanthropy ;  but  still,  there  are  the  dead  hosts,  the 
charred  hamlets,  and  the  graves  upon  a  thousand  hills ! 


STORY    OF    THE    LOPEZ    FAMILY       217 

Could  all  this  have  been  avoided  ? 

Yes.     Incontcstably,  Yes.     It  was  avoided  in  Cuba. 

How  ? 

By  the  substitution  of  a  word. 

In  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  a  clause  relating  to  Cuba  pro- 
vided that  Spain  hereby  "  relinquishes  "  sovereignty  over 
the  Island  of  Cuba  ;  another  clause,  relating  to  the  Philip- 
pines, provided  that  Spain  hereby  ^Ucdcs"  sovereignty 
over  the  Philippines  to  the  United  States.  When  that 
word  "  cedes  "  was  embodied  in  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  the 
blood  was  potentially  shed.  Around  it  clustered  all  the 
subsequent  wrongs  and  all  the  violation  of  rights. 

From  the  thunders  of  Sinai  comes  the  mandate  of 
Law  :  "  Thou  shalt  not  covet  .  .  .  anything  that  is  thy 
neighbor's  " ;  from  gentler  Bethlehem  the  message  of 
Love :  "  Do  unto  others  as  ye  would  that  others  should 
do  unto  you." 

Both  Law  and  Love  forbade  it.  And  all  the  excuses 
that  reason  can  frame  and  philanthropy  offer  are  naked 
mockeries  in  the  presence  of  Sinai  and  Bethlehem. 

"  Governments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriving 
their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed." 

A  truth  is  never  old-fashioned  nor  a  principle  out  of 
date.  Righteousness  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and 
forever.  No  man  is  wise  enough,  no  nation  great  enough 
to  be  able  to  ignore  a  fundamental  principle  or  to  escape 
the  consequences  of  a  violation  of  immutable  law. 


}\ 


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